Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/fivefairsistersOOwill 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 


o 


J/a 


; 


FIVE   FAIR  SISTERS 

AN     ITALIAN     EPISODE    AT 
THE    COURT    OF    LOUIS    XIV 


BY 

H.    NOEL   WILLIAMS 

AUTHOR    OF 

'MADAME   R^CAMIER   AND   HER   FRIENDS,"    "  MADAME    DE   POMPADOUR,' 

"MADAME    DE   MONTESPAN,"    "MADAME    DU    BARRY," 

"queens   of   the    FRENCH   STAGE," 

"later   queens   of   the   FRENCH    STAGE,"    ETC. 


WITH    PHOTOGRAVURE    PLATE  AND 
SIXTEEN   OTHER  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW   YORK 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

27  &   29   WEST   23RD   STREET 


Printed  in  Great  Britain 


TO 

MY    WIFE 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


HORTENSE  MANCINI,   DUCHESSE    DE  MAZARIN     Frontispiece  {Photogravure) 
From  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Sir  Peter  Lely. 

TO    FACE    PAGE 


CARDINAL   MAZARIN 

From  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Mignard. 

ARMAND   DE   BOURBON,   PRINCE   DE  CONTI      . 
From  an  engraving  by  Frosne. 

ANNE  MARIE  MARTINOZZI,   PRINCESS  DE  CONTI 
From  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Beaubrun. 

LAURE   MANCINI,  DUCHESSE  DE   MERCCEUR     . 
From  a  contemporary  print. 


LOUIS  XIV 

From  an  engraving  after  the  drawing  by  Wallerant  Vaillant. 

MARIE  MANCINI 

From  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Sir  Peter  Lely. 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA,   QUEEN  OF  FRANCE 
From  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Mignard. 

PRINCE  CHARLES  (AFTER  CHARLES  V)  OF  LORRAINE 

From  an  engraving  by  Nanteuil. 

MARIA  THERESA,  QUEEN  OF   FRANCE 

From  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Beaubrun. 

LORENZO    ONOFRIO    COLONNA,    PRINCIPE    DI    PALLIANO,    GRAND 
CONSTABLE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  NAPLES      .... 
From  an  engraving  after  the  drawing  by  Giacomo  Bichi 

MARIANNE   MANCINI,   DUCHESSE  DE  BOUILLON       .... 

From  a  contemporary  print. 

ARMAND  DE  LA  PORTE,  DUC  DE  MAZARIN  ET  DE  LA  MEILLERAYE  . 
From  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Mignard. 

MARIE  MANCINI   COLONNA,  PRINCIPESSA   DI   PALLIANO 
From  the  painting  by  Mignard. 

CHARLES  EMMANUEL   II,   DUKE  OF  SAVOY 

From  an  engraving  by  G.  Vallet. 

MARIE  LOUISE  D'ORLEANS,  QUEEN  OF  SPAIN  .... 

From  an  engraving  by  L.  Armessin. 

OLVMPE  MANCINI,  COMTESSE  DE  SOISSONS 

From  a  contemporary  print. 


lO 
38 

40 

58 
72 
no 
158 
200 
22c 

238 
254 
268 
310 
ZZo 
352 
384 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 


CHAPTER   I 

Mazarin  and  his  family — Hostile  criticism  provoked  by  his  promotion  of 
his  brother  Michele — His  sisters,  Signora  Martinozzi  and  Signora 
Mancini,  and  their  children — The  Cardinal  determines  to  bring  his 
nephews  and  nieces  to  France — Arrival  of  Anne-Marie  Martinozzi 
and  Laure,  Olympe,  and  Paul  Mancini — Their  reception  at  Court — 
Prediction  of  Madame  de  Villeroi — Kindness  of  Anne  of  Austria 
to  the  little  girls — Question  of  the  relations  between  the  Queen- 
Mother  and  Mazarin  considered. 

Tj^OR  five  years  after  he  had  succeeded  Richelieu  as 
chief  Minister,  in  May  1643,  Mazarin  remained 
an  isolated  man.  He  had  no  relations  in  France,  and, 
with  a  single  exception,  he  brought  none  of  his  kins- 
folk from  Italy  to  share  his  prosperity.  Madame  de 
Motteville  tells  us  that  he  was  wont  to  declare  that  the 
beautiful  Italian  works  of  art  with  which  his  hotel  was 
filled  were  the  only  relatives  he  desired  to  have  with 
him. 

The  exception  referred  to  was  his  younger  brother, 
Michele  Mazarini,  a  Jacobin  monk  at  Rome,  to  further 
whose  interests  he  did  not  hesitate  to  use  the  diplo- 
macy and  power  of  France,  since,  not  content  with 
appointing  him  Archbishop  of  Aix,  he  intimidated  the 
Pope  into  making  him  a  cardinal.  He  soon  had  reason 
to  regret  his  misplaced  kindness.  The  new  cardinal 
differed  strangely  from  his  brother.  Giulio — or  Jules, 
to  give    him    the    Gallicized   form    of  his    name — was 


2  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

"  affable,  insinuating,  and  a  charming  companion  "  ;  * 
Michele,  rough,  headstrong,  and  brutal.  So  far  from 
being  grateful  for  the  favours  bestowed  upon  him,  he 
treated  the  all-powerful  Minister  with  the  utmost 
familiarity,  and  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  him 
behind  his  back  with  undisguised  contempt.  He  had, 
indeed,  respect  for  no  one,  not  even  for  the  Queen- 
Mother,  and  in  a  short  time  contrived  to  render  him- 
self so  generally  detested  that,  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
him,  Mazarin  sent  him  as  Viceroy  to  Catalonia,  an 
appointment  which  gave  rise  to  much  scandal.  Michele, 
however,  whether  from  incapacity  or  some  other  cause, 
only  held  the  post  a  few  months  and  then  returned  to 
Rome,  where  he  soon  afterwards  died,  a  victim  of 
debauchery,  if  Gui-Patin  Is  to  be  believed. 

Nothing  which  Mazarin  had  hitherto  done  had  excited 
such  hostile  criticism  as  his  efforts  on  behalf  of  this 
unworthy  brother,  and  the  failure  of  the  experiment 
discouraged  any  desire  on  his  part  to  bring  the  elder 
members  of  his  family  to  France.  But  the  younger 
members  seemed  possible  elements  of  strength.  Before 
Mazarin  left  Rome,  as  the  Pope's  vice-legate  to  France, 
in  1634,  he  had  established  his  two  sisters  in  excellent 
marriages.  The  elder  had  married  Girolamo  Marti- 
nozzi  ;  the  younger,  Hieronyma  by  name,  Lorenzo 
Manclnl,  a  Roman  baron.  Of  Martlnozzi,  little  Is 
known,  save  that  he  is  said  to  have  been  of  noble 
descent.  But  the  Mancini  were  undoubtedly  an  old 
family,  who  could  trace  their  ancestry  back  to  the 
fourteenth  century,  though  whether  they  had  ever 
been  quite  so  illustrious  as  the  Duchesse  de  Mazarin 
(Hortense  Mancini)  tells  us  in  her  "  M^moires  "  is  open 
to  question. 

1  Marecha!  de  Gramont,  "  Memoires." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  3 

Signora  Martinozzi,  now  a  widow,  had  two  daughters 
— Anne-Marie  and  Laure.  Signora  Mancini  had  been 
blessed  with  ten  children,  of  whom  eight — three  sons, 
Paul,  Philippe,  and  Alphonse,  and  five  daughters, 
Laure,  Olympe,  Marie,  Hortense,  and  Marianne — were 
still  living.^ 

In  1647,  finding  himself  firmly  established  in  the 
Queen-Mother's  affections,  and  apparently  firmly  estab- 
lished in  power,  Mazarin  resolved  to  make  a  fresh 
experiment  towards  transplanting  his  family  to  France, 
and  accordingly  demanded  from  Signora  Martinozzi 
her  eldest  daughter,  and  from  Signora  Mancini  two 
of  her  daughters,  the  eldest,  and  her  son  Paul.  These 
children  were  from  seven  to  thirteen  years  of  age. 
Although  invited  to  journey  to  a  foreign  land,  to  which 
their  mothers  were  not  bidden,  there  was  no  hesitation 
in  sending  them  to  the  brilliant  lot  which  awaited  the 
adopted  children  and  probable  heirs  of  the  great 
Minister,  and  in  September  they  arrived  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  in  charge  of  the  Duchesse  de  Noailles,  who  had 
been  despatched  to  Rome  with  a  numerous  suite  to  escort 
them  to  France,  just  as  if  they  had  been  Princes  and 
Princesses  of  the  Blood. 

"On  II  September  (1647),"  says  Madame  de  Motte- 
ville,  "  we  saw  arrive  from  Italy  three  nieces  of 
Cardinal  Mazarin  and  a  nephew.  Two  Mancini  sisters 
and  the  nephew  were  the  children  of  the  youngest  sister 
of  his  Eminence,  the  third  niece  was  a  Martinozzi, 
daughter  of  the  Minister's  eldest  sister.  The  eldest 
of  the  little  Mancini  (Laure)  was  a  pleasing  brunette, 
with  a  handsome  face,  about  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
of  age.     The   second,   also   a   brunette  (Olympe),   had 

1  We  have  adopted  the  Gallicized  form  of  the  Christian  names  of 
these  children,  as  it  is  by  them  that  they  are  known  to  fame. 


4  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

a  long  face  and  pointed  chin.  Her  eyes  were  small, 
but  lively,  and  it  might  be  expected  that,  when  fifteen 
years  of  age,  she  would  have  some  charm.  According 
to  the  rules  of  beauty,  it  was  impossible  to  grant  her 
any,  save  that  of  having  dimples  in  her  cheeks. 
Mile.  Martinozzi  was  blonde  ;  her  features  were 
beautiful,  and  she  had  much  sweetness  in  her  eyes  ; 
and  had  we  been  astrologers  enough  to  divine  in 
her  face  the  prospects  of  her  fortune,  as  we  did  those 
of  her  beauty,  we  should  have  known  that  she  was 
destined  to  high  rank.  The  last  two  were  of  the  same 
age  ;  we  were  told  about  nine  or  ten  years  old." 

The  little  strangers  were  met  at  Fontainebleau  by 
Madame  de  Nogent,  who  brought  them  to  Paris  and 
conducted  them  to  Anne  of  Austria's  apartments  in  the 
Palais-Royal.  The  Cardinal  was  with  the  Queen  when 
they  arrived,  but  he  took  scarcely  any  notice  of  his 
young  relatives,  and  almost  immediately  retired  to  his 
own  apartments,  on  the  plea  of  fatigue.^     The  Queen, 

1  Pending  the  completion  of  the  Palais-Mazarin,  in  the  Rue  Neuve 
des  Petits-Champs,  Mazarin  occupied  a  suite  of  apartments  in  the  basse- 
cour  of  the  Palais-Royal,  opening  on  to  the  Rue  des  Bons-Enfants, 
which  enabled  him  to  have  constant  access  to  the  Queen,  whose  apart- 
ments were  situated  in  the  right  wing  of  the  Cour  des  Proues,  the  only 
part  of  the  Palais-Royal,  it  may  be  remarked,  which  still  retains  some 
traces  of  its  primitive  ornamentation.  These  apartments  had  been  left  in 
an  unfinished  state  by  Richelieu,  but  they  had  been  completed  by  order  of 
the  Queen,  who  had  added  an  oratory,  a  bath-room,  and  a  gallery.  It 
was  in  this  gallery,  which  connected  the  apartments  of  the  Queen  with 
those  of  the  Cardinal,  that  the  meetings  of  the  Council  were  usually  held, 
and  it  was  here  that,  on  i8  January  1650,  took  place  the  arrest  of  the 
three  princes — Conde,  Conti,  and  Longueville. 

At  the  time  when  he  became  chief  Minister,  Mazarin  occupied  the 
Hotel  de  Cleves,  situated  in  the  Rue  du  Louvre,  called  also  the  Rue 
de  rOratoire.  This  hotel,  which  was  demolished  in  1758,  had  been 
erected  for  Catherine  de  Cleves,  widow  of  Henri,  Due  de  Guise, 
assassinated  at  Blois  in  1588.  After  the  discovery  of  the  Due  de 
Beaufort's  plot  against  his  life,  in  September  1643,  the  Cardinal,  feeling 
that  he  was  no  longer  in  security  at  the  Hotel  de  Cloves,  vacated  it  for 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  5 

however,  greeted  them  very  kindly,  thought  them 
pretty,  "  and  all  the  time  the  children  spent  in  her 
presence  was  employed  in  remarking  on  their  appear- 
ance." After  her  Majesty  had  dismissed  them,  they 
were  taken  to  the  Cardinal,  "  who  did  not  appear  to  care 
much  for  them  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  jested  about  those 
who  were  silly  enough  to  show  them  attentions.  But, 
despite  this  scorn,  he  certainly  had  great  designs  based 
on  these  little  girls.  His  indifference  about  them  was 
all  pure  comedy  ;  and  by  this  we  may  judge  that  it  is 
not  only  on  the  comic  stage  that  good  pieces  are 
played."  ^ 

The  following  day,  the  nieces  were  again  brought  to 
the  Queen,  who  received  them  as  kindly  as  before,  and 
"  kept  them  some  minutes  near  her  to  examine  them." 
Their  uncle  was  again  present,  but,  as  on  the  previous 
day,  affected  hardly  to  notice  them.  After  this  they 
were  shown  to  the  Court,  and  the  time-serving 
courtiers,  undeceived  by  the  Cardinal's  seeming  in- 
difference, crowded  so  eagerly  round  the  new  arrivals 
that  there  seemed  some  danger  of  them  being  suffo- 
cated by  the  press,  and  vied  with  one  another  in 
extolling  their  beauty,  their  charming  manners,  and 
their  intelligence,  "which  they  credited  them  with  on 
sight."  *'  See  those  little  girls,"  remarked  the  wife  of 
Mar^chal  de  Villeroi  to  Gaston  d'Orleans,  the  King's 
uncle,  "  who  are  now  not  rich  ;  they  will  soon  have 
fine  chateaux,  large  incomes,  splendid  jewels,  beautiful 
silver,  and  perhaps  great  dignities.  .  .  ."  The  marechale 
was  a  true  prophet.    It  was  evident  that  the  first  families 

the  apartments  in  the  Palais-Royal,  or    Palais-Cardinal   as   it  was   then 
called,   which  had  been  bequeathed   by    Richelieu  to  the  late  king,  and 
whither  the  whole  Court  removed  from  the  Louvre,  a  few  weeks  later. 
— Amedee  Renee,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 
1  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  Memoires  " 


6  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

of  the  realm  would  be  ready  to  dispute  the  hand  of  the 
Cardinal's  nieces,  and  that  he  would  have  only  to  choose 
amongst  the  wealthiest,  the  most  powerful,  and  the  most 
illustrious,  to  efface,  by  brilliant  alliances,  his  own  humble 
origin  and  establish  his  power  on  a  sure  foundation. 

The  three  girls  were  at  first  installed  at  the  Hotel  de 
Cleves,  in  charge  of  Madame  de  Sc^nece,  formerly 
gouvernante  to  the  young  king  ;  while  Paul  Mancini  was 
sent  to  be  educated  by  the  Jesuits  at  their  college  at 
Clermont,  where  he  was  allotted  the  room  formerly 
occupied  by  the  Prince  de  Conti,  and  treated  in  all 
respects  as  if  he  were  a  Prince  of  the  Blood.  Soon, 
at  the  instance  of  the  Queen,  the  nieces  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Palais-Royal,  to  be  brought  up  with 
Louis  XIV  and  his  younger  brother,  the  little  Due 
d'Anjou  ;  but  the  Queen  herself  instructed  them  in 
religion,  frequently  taking  them  with  her  to  benefit  by 
the  saintly  conversation  of  the  nuns  of  Val-de-Grace, 
and  treating  them  with  the  same  tenderness  as  her  own 
children. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  stronger  proof  of  Anne's  devo- 
tion to  Mazarin  than  the  manner  in  which  she  occupied 
herself  with  these  girls;  and  here  it  may  not  be  out 
of  place  to  devote  some  little  space  to  a  question  which, 
though  it  has  been  discussed  ad  nauseam  by  French 
writers,  seems  to  us  to  have  hardly  received  satisfactory 
treatment  from  English  and  American  historians  :  the 
relations  between  the  Queen-Mother  and  the  Cardinal. 

At  the  accession  of  Louis  XIV  (14  May  1643), 
Mazarin's  position  in  France  was  a  most  precarious 
one.  Surrounded  as  he  was  by  powerful  enemies  eager 
to  undo  the  work  of  Richelieu,  and  regarded  by  the 
bulk  of  the  nation  with  dislike  and  suspicion,  on  account 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  7 

of  his  foreign  birth,  he  quickly  perceived  that  his  sole 
chance  of  making  head  against  the  forces  arrayed 
against  him  lay  in  securing  the  unequivocal  favour  of 
the  Queen-Mother,  and  to  this  end  all  his  energies 
were  forthwith  directed. 

Anne  of  Austria  had  then  just  passed  her  fortieth 
year.  Sh,e  was  very  devout,  but  also  very  coquettish, 
in  a  romantic  and  strictly  decorous  way,  attaching  great 
importance  to  high-flown  compliments,  languishing 
looks,  and  delicate  little  attentions.  Had  Richelieu 
condescended  to  such  means  to  conciliate  her,  it  is 
possible  that  he  might  have  gained  as  much  influence 
over  her  as  Mazarin  subsequently  enjoyed.  But  the 
great  Cardinal  was  ^^  pedant  en  amoiir^''  to  borrow  the  ex- 
pression of  Anne's  confidante,  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
an  unforgivable  fault  in  her  Majesty's  eyes. 

Mazarin  profited  by  his  predecessor's  failure.  He 
pretended  to  be  madly  in  love,  and  yet  overwhelmed 
by  the  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness.  He  had 
nothing,  he  said,  but  his  devotion  to  plead  for  him  ; 
he  was  more  lowly  than  the  grass  before  his  goddess. 
His  handsome  face,  his  charming  manners,  the  superi- 
ority of  his  intellect,  his  unswerving  devotion  to  her 
interests  and  those  of  her  infant  son,  all  combined  to 
flatter  the  amour  propre  of  the  Queen.  He  succeeded, 
and  succeeded  beyond  his  most  sanguine  expectations. 

Yet,  his  success  was  not  immediate.  He  had  to  over- 
come not  only  indifference,  but  a  feeling  well-nigh 
amounting  to  aversion  on  the  part  of  Anne,  who  had 
long  regarded  him  merely  as  the  creature  of  Richelieu, 
and  for  some  weeks  his  fate  trembled  in  the  balance. 
His  Garnets,  which  reveal  to  us  the  inmost  workings  of 
this  subtle  mind,  show  that  in  the  summer  of  1643  ^^ 
himself  was  doubtful  as  to  the  issue,  for  he  complains 


8  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

of  Anne's  dissimulation,  and  that  her  entire  confidence 
was  not  given  him.  By  September,  however,  that 
distrust  is  dispelled.  "  I  should  no  longer  doubt,"  he 
writes,  "  since  the  Queen,  in  an  excess  of  goodness,  has 
told  me  that  nothing  can  take  from  me  the  part  which 
she  has  graciously  given  me." 

What  that  part  was  has,  as  we  have  said  elsewhere, 
been  much  debated.  According  to  a  curious  anecdote, 
which  Brienne  relates  in  his  "  Memoires,"  Anne  herself 
protested  that  the  Cardinal's  attraction  for  her  was  of  a 
purely  intellectual  order. 

One  day,  Madame  de  Brienne,  the  wife  of  the  secre- 
tary, was  in  the  Queen's  oratory,  when  Anne  entered, 
her  beads  in  her  hand,  plunged  in  a  profound  reverie. 
"  Let  us  pray  together,"  said  she  ;  "  we  shall  be  the 
better  heard."  As  they  rose  from  their  devotions, 
Madame  de  Brienne  craved  permission  to  speak  to  the 
Queen,  in  regard  to  her  Majesty's  relations  with  the 
Cardinal.  Anne  consented,  and  was  accordingly  in- 
formed of  all  that  malicious  tongues  were  saying.  The 
Queen  blushed,  and  tears  filled  her  eyes.  "  Why  have 
you  not  told  me  this  before  .''  "  said  she.  "  I  confess 
that  I  am  attached  to  him — I  can  even  say  tenderly ;  but 
my  affection  does  not  go  so  far  as  love,  or,  if  it  does,  I 
am  not  aware  of  it.  My  senses  have  no  part ;  only  my 
mind  is  charmed  by  the  beauty  of  his  intellect.  If  this 
is  wrong,  I  will  renounce  it  before  God  and  the  saints. 
I  will  speak  to  him  no  more,  save  of  the  affairs  of 
State,  and  check  him  when  he  speaks  of  anything 
else."  Madame  de  Brienne  then  asked  the  Queen 
to  swear  on  some  relics  of  the  saints  which  were  in 
the  oratory,  that  *'  she  would  never  abandon  what  she 
had  promised  God,"  a  request  with  which  her  Majesty 
complied  readily  enough.     "God's  goodness,"  said  the 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  9 

pious  confidante,  "  will  soon  make  your  innocence 
known." 

"Anne,  however,  had  taken  oaths  before,"  observes 
Mazarin's  able  American  biographer,  Mr.  J.  B.  Perkins, 
"and  the  remembrance  of  Val-de-Grace  makes  us 
doubtful  whether  simple  admiration  for  beauty  of  mind 
could  have  withstood  the  shock  of  circumstance  and 
survived  the  lapse  of  years." ^ 

However  that  may  be,  the  tone  of  the  Queen's  letters 
to  the  Cardinal  is  strangely  inconsistent  with  her  pro- 
testations to  Madame  de  Brienne.  During  Mazarin's 
second  exile,  in  1652,  Anne  concludes  one  of  her  letters 
to  him  with  this  passionate  cry  :  "  15  [the  Queen]  is  a 
thousand  times  ^  [yours]  until  the  last  sigh.  Adieu, 
I  can  write  no  more,  and  he  [Mazarin]  knows  why."^ 
And  again,  some  months  later,  when  the  Cardinal  was 
with  the  army,  she  writes  :  "  I  cannot  but  tell  you  that 
I  think  the  sight  of  those  one  loves  is  not  unpleasant, 
even  if  it  be  but  for  a  few  hours.  I  fear  that  your 
fondness  for  the  army  will  be  greater  than  all  others. 
Still,  I  pray  you  to  believe  me  that  I  shall  be  always  what 
I  should  be,  come  what  will." 

The  years  bring  no  change  in  the  warmth  of  these 
epistles.  "Your  letter,"  she  writes,  in  June,  1660, 
"has  given  me  great  joy.  If  I  had  believed  that  one  of 
my  letters  would  have  thus  pleased  you,  I  would  have 

^  "  France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin." 

2  In  their  private  correspondence,  the  Queen  and  Mazarin  employed 
certain  signs  or  ciphers,  of  which  the  key  exists.  The  numbers  i6,  22, 
and  24.  indicate  the  Queen;  the  numbers  15,  26,  and  46  indicate 
Mazarin.  The  Queen  is  likewise  designated  under  the  names  of  Seraphim 
and  Ange,  and  Mazarin  under  those  of  le  C'xcl  and  la  Mer.  Frequently, 
in  his  letters,  Mazarin  speaks  of  himself  as  a  third  person,  to  deceive  any 
one  into  whose  hands  the  letters  might  fall.  Finally,  the  curious  signs 
^  'ff  indicate  the  affection  or  love  of  the  Cardinal  for  the  Queen  and  of 
the  Queen  for  the  Cardinal. 


lo  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

written  it  gladly.  To  see  the  pleasure  with  which  it 
was  received  makes  me  recall  another  time,  which  in- 
deed I  do  recall  almost  every  minute.  Though  you 
may  doubt  it,  if  I  could  make  you  see  my  heart  as  well 
as  what  I  say  on  this  paper,  you  would  be  satisfied,  or 
you  would  be  the  most  ungrateful  man  in  the  world; 
and  I  do  not  believe  you  are  that." 

The  letters  of  Mazarin  are  in  the  same  tone.  "Mo« 
Dieu  !  How  happy  should  I  be  and  you  satisfied,"  he 
writes  from  BrUhl,  in  May  1651,  "  if  you  could  see  my 
heart,  or  if  I  could  write  what  is  in  it  1  You  would  not 
find  it  difficult  in  that  case,  to  agree  that  never  was 
there  a  friendship  approaching  that  which  I  entertain  for 
you.  I  confess  to  you  that  I  little  imagined  that  it 
would  go  so  far  as  to  deprive  me  of  all  contentment, 
when  my  time  is  employed  in  anything  else  than  in 
thinking  of  you."^ 

He  knew  the  extent  of  his  empire,  did  this  astute 
Italian,  and  he  exulted  in  reminding  his  royal  conquest 
of  it.  "If  you  were  nearer  the  sea  [Mazarin],  I  believe 
that  you  would  be  more  pleased.  I  trust  that  that  will 
be  soon." 

It  has  frequently  been  claimed  that  the  Queen  and 
the  Cardinal  were  secretly  married.  Such  was  the 
tradition  preserved  at  the  Palais-Royal,  as  the  letters 
of  the  Duchesse  d'Orleans,  mother  of  the  Regent, 
prove.^  The  same  charge,  too,  is  to  be  found  in  many 
of  the  pamphlets  published  during  the  Fronde,  and  has 
been  accepted  by  more  than  one  historian  of  weight, 
who  argue  that   a   woman  of  Anne's  extravagant  piety 

^  For  the  rest  of  this  letter,  see  p.  25  infra. 

^'  "The  Queen-Mother,  widow  of  Louis  XIII,  did  more  than  love 
Cardinal  Mazarin  ;  she  married  him." — "  Correspondance  complete  de 
Madame,  Duchesse  d'Orleans,'*  pui/iee  par  G.  Brunet,  1855,  II,  p.  3. 


''^^'^^.j'  ^-^-^  >^^-^^^ 


From  an  engraving  aftei-  llie  painting  by  JMignard 

CARDINAL   MAZARIN 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  ii 

would  have  recoiled  with  horror  from  any  connection 
unsanctioned  by  Holy  Church. 

Those  who  hold  this  view,  of  course,  start  with  the 
assumption  that  Mazarin  was  only  in  minor  Orders,  and 
therefore  would  have  been  free  to  marry  had  he  been  so 
disposed.  This  was  certainly  the  opinion  of  his  con- 
temporaries, and  the  Abbe  de  Laffmas,  in  a  rhyming 
letter  which  he  addressed  to  the  Cardinal  in  1649,  ^^Y^  • — 

Vous  etes  un  grand  cardinal, 
Un  homme  de  haute  cntreprisc, 
Vingt  fois  abbe,  homme  de  I'eglise, 
Quoique  ne  soyez  in  sacris.   .   .  . 

Aubery  ("Histoire  de  Cardinal  Mazarin")  and  Victor 
Cousin  ("  La  Jeunesse  de  Mazarin)  pronounce  also  for 
the  negative,  as  does  M.  Cheruel  ("Histoire  de  France 
pendant  la  minorite  de  Louis  XIV ").  On  the  other 
hand,  Am^dee  Renee,  in  his  "Nieces  de  Mazarin,"  and 
that  indefatigable  unraveller  of  historical  mysteries 
M.  Jules  Loiseleur  maintain  that  Mazarin  was  in  full 
Orders.    The  latter  writer's  arguments  are  interesting. 

"  The  minutes  of  the  proceedings  of  the  consistory 
of  16  December  1641,"  he  writes,  "preserved  in  the 
Vatican  Archives,  at  which  he  (Mazarin)  was  preconised 
cardinal,  qualifies  him  as  cardinal  of  Saint  Jean-de- 
Latran.  No  mention  is  made  of  his  quality  of  priest, 
mention  useless,  in  point  of  fact,  and  which  would  have 
been  without  any  object,  since  his  title  of  canon  is  spoken 
of,  which  supposes  that  quality.  When  an  ecclesiastic 
is  spoken  of  as  canon  or  bishop,  no  one  thinks  of  adding 
that  he  is  a  priest  ;  that  goes  without  saying. 

"  Perhaps  it  may  be  objected  that  the  kings  of  France 
were  honorary  canons  of  various  churches,  and  that 
possibly  Mazarin  may  have  received  the  same  honour. 
To  this  we  reply  that  the  minutes  of  the  proceedings  of 


12  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

the  consistory  do  not  speak  of  Mazarin  as  an  honorary 
canon,  but  as  an  ordinary  canon  :  canonicus  Lateranensis. 
Further,  Saint  Jean-de-Latran  is  a  Roman  church,  and 
only  persons  in  Holy  Orders  were  admitted  to  the 
canonicates  of  these  kind  of  basilicas."^ 

These  arguments  seem  sound  enough,  but  M. 
Loiseleur  was  apparently  unaware  at  the  time  when  he 
wrote  his  book  of  the  existence  of  a  letter  of  the  Cardinal 
which  M.  Ch6ruel  cites  in  his  "  Histoire  de  France 
pendant  la  minorite  de  Louis  XIV."  This  letter, 
addressed  to  one  of  his  confidants,  Elphideo  Benedetti, 
was  written  when  Mazarin  was  in  exile  at  Brilhl  in 
1 65 1,  and  had  some  thought  of  visiting  Rome.  "As 
for  the  difficulty  created  by  the  Bull  which  deals  with 
those  not  in  Orders,  one  ought,"  he  writes,  "  especially 
to  consider  the  depi'ivation  of  the  right  of  voting  in  the 
Conclave,  and,  in  regard  to  that,  I  should  desire  to  know 
whether,  in  the  event  of  my  taking  Holy  Orders^  I  should 
have  the  right  of  voting  without  any  other  dispensation 
being  necessary."  This  passage,  in  the  opinion  of 
M.  Cheruel,  is  a  conclusive  proof  that  Mazarin  was 
only  a  lay  cardinal,  and  most  people,  we  think,  will  be 
inclined  to  agree  with  him. 

M.  Loiseleur,  however,  is  on  much  surer  ground  when 
he  proceeds  to  argue  that,  whether  Mazarin  was  a  lay 
cardinal  or  a  cardinal-priest,  he  would  equally  have  been 
unable  to  contract  a  marriage  without  a  special  dispensa- 
tion from  the  Pope,  and  that  such  a  dispensation  had 
never  been  granted,  except  on  the  condition  of  the 
intending  Benedict  resigning  his  membership  of  the 
Sacred  College. 

"  M.  Michelet,"  says  he,  "is  correct  in  asserting  that 
there  are  examples  of  cardinal-princes  whom  Rome  has 

1  "  Problemes  historiqucs." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  13 

dlscardinalized,  when  some  great  political  necessity 
obliged  them  to  marry.  We  do  not  think  that  many 
such  examples  may  be  cited,  but  there  is  one  at  least. 
It  is  that  of  Cardinal  Jean  Casimir,  elected  King  of 
Poland  in  1649,  who  was  relieved  of  his  vows  by  the 
Pope  and  married  his  brother's  widow,  Marie  de 
Gonzague.  But,  before  he  married,  Casimir  V  laid 
aside  the  purple  ;  he  did  not  remain  a  cardinal.  That 
is,  in  fact,  the  question,  and  we  defy  any  one  to  cite  a 
single  cardinal,  lay  or  not,  whom  Rome  has  permitted 
to  marry  and  still  to  remain  a  cardinal.  And  Mazarin 
died  a  cardinal,  for,  in  his  last  moments,  the  Nuncio 
Piccolomini  administered  the  Indulgence  in  articuh 
mortis^  which  the  Popes  are  in  the  habit  of  according  to 
members  of  the  Sacred  College." 

M.  Lolseleur  then  goes  on  to  point  out  that,  if  the 
Holy  See,  in  defiance  of  all  ecclesiastical  usage,  had 
accorded  Mazarin  permission  to  marry  and  still  to  retain 
the  external  apparel  of  his  former  dignity,  the  dispensa- 
tion must  have  been  granted  either  by  Urban  VIII, 
who  died  28  July  1644,  or  by  Innocent  X,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  and  lived  till  1655.  But  it  could  hardly 
have  been  by  Urban,  he  says,  for  we  know,  from  a 
report  of  Mazarin's  secret  police,  that,  towards  the  end 
of  October  1643,  three  nuns  of  Val-de-Grdce,  intimate 
friends  of  the  Queen,  took  upon  themselves  to  send 
her  Majesty  a  vigorously-worded  remonstrance  on  the 
subject  of  her  relations  with  the  Cardinal,  a  remon- 
strance which  would  have  been  entirely  purposeless,  if, 
at  this  period,  these  relations  had  been  legitimated  by 
marriage.  "  Nor  is  that  all.  Certain  notes  of  the 
Cardinal's  fourth  carnet^  which  comprises  the  end  of  the 
year  1643  ^""^  ^^  beginning  of  1644,  and  other  notes 
of  the  fifth  carnety  which  extends  down  to  28  August  of 


14  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

the  latter  year,  show  us  that  about  the  time  of  the  death 
of  Urban  VIII  the  convents  were  still  inveighing  against 
Mazarin,  influenced  principally  by  his  scandalous  rela- 
tions with  the  Queen,  a  fact  which  is  inexplicable,  suppos- 
ing that  a  dispensation  had  been  granted  by  the  Pope  ;  for 
the  Queen,  who  had  no  secrets  from  her  good  friends 
of  Val-de-Grace,  would  not  have  failed  to  close  their 
mouths  by  communicating  to  them  the  dispensation,  if 
it  had  existed,  and  Pere  Vincent,^  to  whom  was  attributed 
the  celebration  of  the  marriage,  would  not  have  found 
himself  included  in  the  recriminations  consigned  to  the 
famous  carnets^ 

"As  for  Innocent  X,"  continues  M.  Loiseleur,  "he 
remained  throughout  his  pontificate  the  bitter  and  per- 
sistent enemy  of  Mazarin,  and  no  one  in  Europe  was 
less  likely  to  go  out  of  his  way  to  do  the  Cardinal  a 
favour." 

This  would  seem  to  us  to  render  a  marriage  between 
the  Cardinal  and  Anne  of  Austria  extremely  improbable, 
though  it  is  just  conceivable,  as  more  than  one  writer 
has  suggested,  that  Mazarin  may  have  intimidated 
Innocent  X,  by  the  threat  of  the  annexation  of  Avignon, 
into  granting  the  necessary  dispensation  and  also  into 
maintaining  silence  in  regard  to  it. 

1  Saint-Vincent  de  Paul. 


CHAPTER   II 

Beginning  of  the  Fronde — The  Cardinal  sends  his  nieces  to  Val-de- 
Grace — His  plans  for  their  establishment — Declines  the  offer  of 
Cardinal  Barberini  to  marry  his  nephew  to  Laure  Mancini — Looks 
with  favour  upon  the  Due  de  Candale — Arranges  a  marriage  between 
Laure  and  the  Due  de  Mercoeur — The  Prince  de  Conde  opposed 
to  the  match — Intrigues  of  the  Marquis  de  Jarze  to  supplant  the 
Cardinal  in  the  affections  of  the  Queen — His  presumption  punished 
by  Anne  of  Austria — Mazarin  insulted  by  Conde — Renewal  of  the 
civil  war — The  Cardinal  leaves  the  kingdom — Exultation  of  his 
enemies — The  Ma-zarinades — The  cardinal's  nieces  follows  him  into 
exile — He  establishes  himself  at  Briihl  —  Marriage  of  the  Due  de 
Mercoeur  and  Laure  Mancini — Mazarin  continues  to  direct  affairs  in 
France — He  raises  an  army  and  recrosses  the  frontier — His  letter  to 
the  Queen — He  joins  their  Majesties  at  Poitiers — Return  of  his  nieces 
to  Paris — Battle  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- Antoine  and  death  of  Paul 
Mancini — Hatred  of  the  Parisians  against  Mazarin — His  second 
exile — Tender  letter  of  the  Queen  to  the  Cardinal — He  is  recalled  to 
France — His  triumphant  return. 

T)UT  to  return  to  the  Mancini. 

^^  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1649,  ^^^il  war 
broke  out — that  curious  medley  of  tragedy  and  bur- 
lesque known  as  the  Fronde,  and  on  5  January  the 
Court  quitted  Paris  for  Saint-Germain,  while  the 
Cardinal's  nieces  were  confided  to  the  care  of  the  nuns 
of  Val-de-Grace.  August  found  Court  and  Cardinal 
once  more  at  the  Palais-Royal,  the  Treaty  of  Ruel 
having  cleared  the  air  for  the  time  being.  But  Mazarin, 
perceiving  that  a  second  storm  was  brewing,  judged  it 
best  to  allow  his  nieces  to  remain  in  security. 

In  the  meanwhile,  he  had  begun  to  busy  himself  with 

15 


i6  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

plans  for  their  establishment  in  life  ;  plans  in  which,  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  observe,  the  happiness  of  the 
young  ladies  themselves  counted  for  very  little.  The 
eldest  of  the  Mancini  sisters,  Laure,  was  now  fifteen, 
and  suitors  had  already  begun  to  present  themselves. 
Cardinal  Barberini  had  made  overtures  on  behalf  of  his 
nephew,  a  Colonna  ;  but  Mazarin  demurred  to  this 
proposal  and  suggested  in  preference  one  of  the  younger 
girls,  who  was  still  at  Rome  in  a  convent ;  for,  wrote  he, 
"  your  proposition  would  disarrange  the  plans  I  have 
made  for  establishing  all  the  others  in  France."  This 
Mancini  offered  as  ?i  pis-alkr  was  without  doubt  Marie, 
who  was  one  day  to  become  the  wife  of  another  Colonna. 
She  was  then  at  most  ten  years  old,  which  fact,  however, 
did  not  prevent  her  politic  uncle  from  drawing  up  the 
articles  of  the  marriage-contract. 

At  the  time  this  letter  was  written,  Mazarin  had  cast 
a  favourable  eye  upon  the  Due  de  Candale,  the  heir  of 
the  Epernons,  "  the  first  nobleman  of  the  Court  in 
good  looks,  magnificence,  and  riches,  whom  all  the  men 
envied,  and  whose  regard  all  the  gallant  ladies  desired  to 
merit ;  if  they  were  not  able  to  make  him  the  trophy  of 
their  glory."^  We  may  presume  that  the  riches  and 
the  renown  of  his  House  counted  for  far  more  in  the 
Cardinal's  eyes  than  the  good  looks.  But  the  young 
gentleman  was  in  no  hurry  to  exchange  the  role  of 
Lothario  for  that  of  Benedick,  and  nothing  came  of 
the  project ;  though  the  probability  of  the  duke  allying 

1  Madame  de  Motteville,  "Memoires."  Bussy-Rabutin,  in  his 
"Histoire  amoureuse  des  Gaules,"  has  traced  the  following  portrait  of 
this  personage:  "The  Due  de  Candale  had  blue  eyes,  a  well-made 
nose,  irregular  features,  a  large  and  disagreeable  mouth,  very  beautiful 
teeth,  and  golden  blond  hair  in  the  greatest  profusion  possible  to  imagine  ; 
he  had  an  admirable  figure,  dressed  well,  and  had  the  air  of  a  man  of  the 
first  quality." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  17 

himself  with  one  of  the  other  sisters  was  a  frequent 
topic  of  discussion  down  to  1668,  when  a  fever,  or,  if  we 
are  to  believe  Daniel  de  Cosnac,  poison  administered  by 
a  jealous  husband,  cut  short  his  career  of  gallantry  and 
plunged  half  the  ladies  of  the  Court  into  an  ecstasy  of 
grief."  ^ 

It  was  perhaps  fortunate  for  Laure  Mancini  that 
M.  de  Candale  was  so  reluctant  to  enter  the  holy  estate, 
since  a  gentleman  of  so  very  susceptible  a  disposition 
could  scarcely  have  been  expected  to  make  a  model 
husband.  Soon,  however,  another  and — for  the  lady  at 
least — a  far  more  desirable  parn  was  forthcoming,  in  the 
person  of  the  Due  de  Mercoeur,  whose  father,  the  Due 
de  Vendome,  was  the  son  of  Henri  IV  and  the  beauti- 
ful Gabrielle  d'Estr^es.  MerccEur  had  none  of  the 
ardent  blood  of  his  grandparents,  or  of  the  ambitious 
and  turbulent  disposition  of  his  father  and  brother,  the 


^  His  friend  Saint-Evremond  describes,  with  all  the  interest  of  a 
public  event,  the  universal  grief  which  his  untimely  death  occasioned 
among  the  fair  :  "  The  last  years  of  his  life,  all  our  ladies  cast  their  eyes 
on  him.  The  most  retiring  did  not  allow  themselves  to  sigh  in  secret ; 
the  most  gallant  disputed  for  him,  and  desired  to  possess  him  as  their 
most  glorious  conquest.  After  having  divided  them  in  the  interests  of 
gallantry,  he  reunited  them  in  tears  by  his  death.  Those  whom  he  had 
once  loved  recalled  their  old  sentiments,  and  imagined  that  they  had  still 
to  lose  what  they  had  already  lost.  Several  who  had  been  indifferent  to 
him  flattered  themselves  that  they  would  not  have  been  always  thus,  and, 
laying  the  blame  on  death,  which  had  forestalled  their  happiness,  they 
wept  for  this  amiable  man  of  whom  they  might  have  been  the  beloved. 
Finally,  there  were  even  some  who  regretted  him  through  vanity,  and  one 
saw  unknown  ladies  insinuate  themselves  into  this  commerce  of  tears,  in 
order  to  get  the  credit  of  being  gallant," 

More  than  one  disconsolate  beauty  cut  off  her  hair  in  despair  at  the 
news  of  his  death,  among  them  the  Marquise  de  la  Baume,  niece  of  the 
Marechal  de  Villeroi,  "  who  had  the  most  beautiful  fair  hair  in  the  world." 
The  celebrated  Comtesse  d'Olonne,  one  of  the  latest  of  Candale's  loves, 
Mile,  de  Montpensier  tells  us,  spent  the  whole  night  in  tears,  and  on 
being  questioned  by  her  husband  as  to  the  cause  of  her  grief,  "  begged  him 
to  forgive  her  and  confessed  that  she  had  loved  him  (Candale)  dearly." 


1 8  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Due  de  Beaufort,  the  famous  "i?of  des  Halles,^  but  was 
in  all  respects  an  excellent  man,  amiable,  pious,  and 
gentle.  Vendome  had  grown  weary  of  opposition  to 
the  Court,  which  had  brought  him  nothing  but  exile  and 
imprisonment,  and  was  ready  enough  to  accept  the  good 
things  which  an  alliance  with  the  Cardinal's  family  would 
ensure  him  ;  while,  on  his  side,  Mazarin  hoped  to 
oppose  the  influence  of  Vendome  to  that  of  the  Prince 
de  Cond6  and  to  gain  over  Beaufort. 

The  marriage  was  agreed  upon.  Vendome  was  to 
receive  the  admiralty.  Mercoeur  was  to  have  for 
dowry  600,000  livres  and  the  first  vacant  government. 
But  Conde  had  become  more  troublesome  than  all  the 
Frondeurs  ;  he  had  compelled  Mazarin  to  enter  into  an 
agreement  not  to  marry  his  nieces  without  obtaining  his 
sanction,  and,  though  he  had  at  first  raised  no  objection 
to  the  alliance,  as  the  time  for  its  consummation 
approached,  he  became  opposed  to  a  step  which  would 
make  Mazarin  less  dependent  and  Vendome  more 
powerful,  and  declined  to  sign  the  contract.  He  now 
accused  the  Cardinal  of  having  broken  faith  with  him 
in  regard  to  the  government  of  Font-de-VArche^  in 
Normandy,  and  began  to  intrigue  vigorously  against 
him.  Prompted  by  the  prince,  one  of  his  proteges  the 
Marquis  de  Jarze,  "  who  was  by  nature  brusque,  con- 
ceited, satirical,  and  frivolous,"  dared  to  raise  his  eyes  to 
the  Queen,  in  the  hope  of  supplanting  the  Cardinal  in 
her  mature  affections.  This  intrigue  became  an  affair  of 
State,  which  greatly  preoccupied  both  the  Regent  and  her 
Minister,  and,  on  the  advice  of  the  latter,  Anne  adminis- 
tered a  severe  and  well-merited  rebuff  to  the  presumptu- 
ous Jarze.  Madame  de  Motteville,  an  eye-witness,  has 
left  us  the  following  account  of  this  little  comedy  : — 

"  As  Jarze  knew,  to  some  extent,  by  the  dismissal  of 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  19 

his  friend  Madame  de  Beauvais  (a  waiting-woman  of  the 
Queen,  who  had  lent  herself  to  the  designs  of  Jarze  and 
had  just  been  exiled  on  the  Cardinal's  demand),  his  posi- 
tion at  Court,  he  thought  to  execute  a  clever  stroke 
of  policy  by  appearing  to  know  nothing  and  to  fear 
nothing.  But  the  hour  had  come  when  he  was  fated  to 
be  punished  for  his  presumption.  The  Queen,  having 
it  in  her  mind  to  rebuke  him,  did  not  fail  the  moment 
she  saw  him  to  attack  him  and  to  say  to  him,  in  a  con- 
temptuous tone,  these  very  words  :  *  Really,  M.  de 
Jarze,  you  are  very  ridiculous.  I  am  told  that  you  play 
the  lover.  A  pretty  gallant,  forsooth  !  I  pity  you  ; 
they  will  have  to  send  you  to  the  Petites-Maisons. 
Though  it  is  true  that  we  need  not  be  astonished  at 
your  madiiess,  since  it  is  inherited  1 ' — meaning  by  that 
his  grandfather,  Mar^chal  de  Lavardin,  who  was  passion- 
ately in  love  with  the  late  Queen,  Marie  de' Medici,  and 
about  whom  her  husband  Henri  IV  used  to  jest  with 
her. 

"  Poor  Jarze  was  overwhelmed  by  this  thunderbolt. 
He  dared  not  say  a  word  in  his  justification.  He 
stammered  and  left  the  cabinet,  full  of  trouble,  pale 
and  undone.  In  spite  of  his  mortification,  he  perhaps 
flattered  himself  with  the  reflection  that  the  adventure 
was  a  fine  one,  the  crime  honourable,  and  that  he  had 
no  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  the  accusation.  The  whole 
Court  was  instantly  full  of  the  event ;  the  ruelles  of  the 
ladies  rang  with  the  sound  of  the  royal  words.  The 
name  of  Jarz6  was  heard  everywhere  in  Paris,  and  the 
provinces  quickly  had  their  share  of  it." 

Jarz6's  disgrace  and  the  refusal  of  the  Queen  to 
pardon  him  put  the  comhle  upon  the  discontent  of 
Cond6.  The  hollow  truce  could  not  last  long,  and 
it   was   broken   on   the   day  when    the   haughty   soldier 


20  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

addressed  to  the  Cardinal  a  letter  bearing  on  its  cover 
the  insulting  words,  *'  AlV  illustrissimo  signer  Facchino." 

The  arrest  of  the  princes  Conde,  Conti,  and 
Longueville,  on  i8  January  1650,  did  not  arrest  the 
disorder,  and,  seeing  the  revolt  gaining  ground  in  the 
provinces,  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  fulminating  decrees 
against  him^  and  Gaston  d'Orleans  at  the  head  of  the 
Fronde,  Mazarin  judged  it  prudent  to  leave  the  king- 
dom. On  the  night  of  6-7  February  1651,  he  quitted 
the  Palais-Royal,  in  disguise,  followed  by  the  Comte  de 
Broglie  and  another  gentleman,  and  took  the  road  to 
Havre.  Here  he  stopped  to  liberate  the  imprisoned 
princes,  who  had  been  transferred  thither  from  Mar- 
coussis  at  the  end  of  the  previous  November,^  after 
which  he  continued  his  journey  to  the  frontier,  by  way 
of  Abbeville  and  Doullens. 

The  Frondeurs  sang  paeans  of  triumph  over  the 
discomfiture  and  disappearance  of  their  enemy.  The 
pamphlets — those  famous  Mazarinades,  which  had 
rained  upon  the  Cardinal  since  the  beginning  of  the 
Fronde — redoubled  in  numbers  and  bitterness,  and  whole 
volumes  might  be  filled  with  the  libels  in  prose  and 
verse  that  flowed  from  the  pens  of  the  opposition 
scribes  and  rhymesters  in  the  spring  of  1651.  "The 
care  that  the  Cardinal  bestowed  upon  his  person  and  his 
dress,  his  beautiful  white  hands,  his  carefully-trimmed 
moustache,  his  lemonades,  his  ragouts,  his  pastry,  even 
his  bread,  all  those  importations  of  refined  elegance  and 

1  On  3  November  1650,  the  Parliament  condemned  Mazarin  to  be 
hanged  in  effigy  in  four  different  places.  *'  Que  ledit  Cardinaly^  ran  the 
decree,  "  recontiu  coupable  du  crime  de  traison  a  ete  condamne  d'etre  pendu 
en  effigie  .../<?  3  November  1650." 

2  Montglat  says  :  "  The  Cardinal  asked  the  princes  for  their  friend- 
ship, but  they,  judging  truly  of  the  situation,  promised  him  '  all  that  he 
wanted  of  it.' " 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  21 

Italian  voluptuousness  ;  his  palace,  with  its  picture- 
galleries,  its  statues,  and  its  vast  stables — all  furnished 
material  for  the  satirist : 

Adieu,  done,  pauvre  Mazarin  ! 
Adieu,  mon  pauvre  Tabarin  ; 
Adieu,  Voncle  aux  Mazarinettes  ; 
Adieu,  pere  aux  marionettes  ; 
Adieu,  le  plus  beau  des  galans  ; 
Adieu,  buveur  des  lemonades  ; 
Adieu,  I'inventeur  des  pommades ; 
Adieu  I'homme  aux  bonnes  senteurs  !^ 

Needless  to  say,  the  "  Mazarinettes "  and  every 
member  known  and  unknown  of  the  Minister's  family 
had  their  share  in  this  deluge  of  facetiousness  and 
obscenity,  for  few  of  the  lampoons  were  of  so  harmless 
a  character  as  the  specimen  we  have  just  cited,  and  no 
abuse,  no  insinuation,  no  accusation  was  too  gross  to 
heap  upon  the  exiled  Cardinal ;  nor  was  the  reputation 
of  the  Queen-Mother  respected,  as  the  pieces  entitled 
Les  Soupers  des  Fleurs  de  lys  and  Le  Custode  du  lit  de  la 
Reine^  will  testify. 

A  decree  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris  had  expelled  the 
nephew  and  nieces  of  the  Cardinal  from  France.  The 
latter  quitted  the  capital  almost  immediately  after  their 
uncle,  and  joined  him  at  Peronne,  whither  Marechal 
d'Hocquincourt  had  conducted  them.  It  was  well  that 
they  did  not  delay  their  departure,  otherwise  they  might 
have  been  roughly  handled.  Popular  credulity  suspected 
the  Cardinal  of  being  concealed  in  Paris  ;  and  a  report 
spread  that   he    was    at  Val-de-Grace,   disguised   as  a 

^  Amedee  Renee,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 

2  The  writer  of  this  libel,  one  Claude  Morlot  by  name,  was  condemned 
to  be  hanged,  but  was  rescued  by  the  mob,  who  put  the  archers  and  the 
executioners  to  flight  and  pulled  down  the  gibbet. 


22  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

nun,  and  that  the  Queen  went  there  secretly  to  visit 

On  disoit  que  le  Mazarin 
Tous  les  jours  chantoit  au  lutrin 
En  habit  de  religieuse. 

It  was  also  believed  that  the  nieces  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  city  ;  crowds  collected  before  the  houses  in  which 
they  were  said  to  be  concealed,  and  ransacked  several  of 
them  from  cellar  to  attic. 

La  canaille  rien  ne  trouva, 

Mais  jura  de  mettre  en  cent  pieces 

Tous  ceux  qui  logeroient  les  nieces.  ^ 

It  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  Mazarin  did  not  deem  it 
necessary  to  send  the  children  to  their  parents  in  Rome 
that  he  was  of  opinion  that  his  exile  would  be  but  a 
temporary  one.  He  left  Peronne,  with  his  nieces  and 
nephew,  to  establish  himself  in  some  town  beyond  the 
frontier.  At  Clermont,  in  Argonne,  he  was  received 
by  Marechal  de  la  Fert^,  in  spite  of  the  decrees  of  the 
Parliament,  while  Fabert,  the  commandant  of  Sedan, 
begged  him  to  take  refuge  there,  although  an  order 
wrung  from  the  unfortunate  Queen  directed  her  friend 
to  leave  the  realm.  The  Cardinal  declined  Fabert's 
offer,  but  left  his  young  relatives  in  his  charge  until  he 
had  decided  upon  his  place  of  exile.  He  finally  chose 
the  town  of  Brilhl,  within  a  short  distance  of  Cologne. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  episodes  of  Mazarin's 
sojourn  at  Briihl  was  the  marriage  of  Laure  Mancini. 
Laure,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  had  been  be- 
trothed to  the  Due  de  Mercceur,  eldest  son  of  the  Due 
de  Vendome  and  brother  of  "  le  Rot  des  Halles.''  But 
the  renewal  of  the  civil  war  had  caused  the  marriage  to 
be  postponed,  and  the  ruin  of  the   Cardinal's  fortunes 

1  Loret,  "  La  Muse  historique." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  23 

encouraged  a  belief  that  it  would  never  take  place. 
The  amiable  and  honest  Mercoeur,  however,  was  faithful 
to  his  engagements  and  to  the  sentiments  with  which 
the  beautiful  Laure  had  inspired  him,  and,  ignoring  the 
decrees  prohibiting  all  communication  with  the  exiled 
Minister,  set  out  for  Briihl,  where  he  espoused  privately, 
but  in  good  and  due  form,  his  young  bride,  furnished 
with  the  consent  of  the  King,  the  Queen,  and  even  of 
Gaston  d'Orleans,  who  subsequently  vainly  pretended 
to  have  revoked  it.^ 

Such  disinterestedness  appeared  the  height  of  folly  to 
the  selfish  courtiers,  and,  on  his  return  to  Paris,  the 
poor  duke  found  himself  rallied  on  all  sides,  and  held 
up  to  ridicule  and  odium  by  the  pamphleteers  of  the 
Fronde.  Moreover,  he  had  to  submit  to  a  trying 
ordeal,  for  Conde,  furious  at  the  marriage,  accused  him 
in  the  Parliament  of  having  infringed  its  decrees,  by 
having  had  relations  with  the  Cardinal  and  his  family, 
and  Mercoeur,  as  a  pair  de  France ,  had  to  appear  before 
the  assembled  Chambers  to  give  an  explanation  of  his 
conduct.  He  defended  himself  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,  asserting  that  the  marriage  had  taken  place  prior 
to  the  flight  of  the  Cardinal,  and  that  he  had  undertaken 
the  journey  to  Briihl  to  see  not  the  Minister,  but  his 
wife.  The  Parliament  directed  that  the  marriage  con- 
tract should  be  laid  before  it,  and  the  scene  terminated 
by  a  decree  "  prohibiting  the  said  Mancini  from  enter- 
ing the  kingdom  or  residing  therein  under  pretext  of 
this  union." 

The  Queen  had  taken  great  interest  in  this  matter, 

^  The  marriage  contract  was  subsequently  renewed  at  the  Louvre 
(29  May,  1654)  before  the  King's  notaries,  in  the  presence  of  their 
Majesties,  the  Due  d'Anjou,  and  other  distinguished  persons.  The 
Cardinal  gave  his  niece  a  dowry  of  600,000  livres  in  cash,  and  the  King 
presented  the  happy  pair  with  the  sum  of  100,000  livres. 


24  FIVE  FAIR   SISTERS 

and  was  highly  indignant  at  the  insulting  treatment  to 
which  the  Due  de  Mercoeur  was  being  subjected.  "  She 
charged  me,"  writes  de  Retz,  "  to  implore  Monsieur 
[Gaston  d'Orleans],  in  her  name,  to  prevent  this  affair 
from  being  carried  any  further  ;  she  spoke  to  him  with 
tears  in  her  eyes,  and  showed  me  plainly  that  she  was 
always  herself  most  sensible  to  what  she  believed  most 
affected  the  Cardinal."  ^ 

Thus  the  astute  Italian,  even  in  the  midst  of  his 
misfortunes,  had  succeeded  in  marrying  his  niece  to  a 
grandson  of  Henri  IV.  But  his  Garnets  show  us  that 
he  had  hoped  for  greater  things.  He  had  hoped  to 
make  a  '■^ grand  coupy^  by  marrying  the  two  brothers  at 
the  same  time  to  two  of  his  nieces.  "  If  one  could 
completely  gain  over  the  Due  de  Beaufort  by  an  alliance," 
he  writes,  "  I  could  give  the  two  nieces  to  the  two 
brothers,  and  give  the  younger  [Beaufort]  the  govern- 
ment of  Paris,  and  treat  even  for  that  of  Ile-de-France. 
And,  with  that,  one  would  make  a  grand  coup^  for, 
possessing  the  affection  of  the  people  in  the  said  town, 
he  would  be  in  a  position  to  one  day  render  some 
considerable  service  to  the  King." 

From  his  retreat  at  Brlihl,  Mazarin  continued  to 
direct  the  policy  of  his  party  in  France.  With  the 
Queen  he  kept  up  an  active  and  secret  correspondence, 
by  means  of  his  confidential  agent  Bartet  and  other 
skilful  emissaries.  A  part  of  this  correspondence  still 
exists,  and  shows  us  Mazarin  adroitly  combining  sage 
political  counsel  with  assurances  of  the  most  ardent 
devotion. 

1  "  Memoires  du  Cardinal  de  Retz." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  25 

Mazarin  to  the  Queen. 

**  From  Briihl,  xi  May  1 65 1. 

"Mb«  Bieu!  How  happy  should  I  be  and  you  satis- 
fied, if  you  could  see  into  my  heart,  or  if  I  could  write 
to  you  what  is  in  it!  You  would  not  find  it  difficult,  in 
that  case,  to  agree  that  never  was  there  a  friendship 
approaching  that  which  I  entertain  for  you.  I  confess  to 
you  that  I  little  imagined  that  it  would  go  so  far  as 
to  deprive  me  of  all  contentment,  when  my  time  is 
employed  in  anything  else  than  in  thinking  of  you. 

"I  wish,  also,  that  I  had  the  power  to  express  my 
hatred  for  ""hose  indiscreet  persons  who  labour  without 
ceasing  to  make  you  forget  me  and  to  hinder  us  from 
meeting  again  :  in  a  word,  it  is  proportioned  to  the 
friendship  which  I  bear  you.  They  are  mistaken,  if 
they  hope  to  see  in  us  the  effects  of  absence  ;  and  if  that 
Spaniard  said  that  the  mountains  of  Guadarrama  have 
great  difficulty  in  dividing  two  good  friends  .  .  . 

"If  my  misfortunes  are  not  speedily  remedied,  I 
cannot  answer  for  being  wise  to  the  end,  for  this  great 
prudence  ill  accords  with  a  passion  such  as  mine. 

"Perhaps  I  am  wrong,  for  which  I  crave  your  pardon  ; 
but  I  believe  that,  were  I  in  your  place,  I  should  have 
already  gone  far  to  find  a  way  for  the  Friend  to  see  me 
again.  .  .  .  Write  to  me,  I  entreat  you,  and  say  if  I 
shall  see  you  and  when  :  for  this  state  of  things  cannot  last^ 
even  should  I  perish.  The  greatest  enemy  that  I  have 
in  the  world,  I  should  love  as  my  own  life,  and  with  all 
my  heart,  if  he  could  contrive  so  that  I  might  see  Serafin 
[the  Queen]  again.   .   .  ."^ 

And  for  his  sake  the  Queen,  this  woman  ordinarily  so 

1  Published  by  Amedee  Renee,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 


26  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

indolent,  so  changeable  in  her  affections,  braved  every- 
thing :  the  outrageous  attacks  of  the  rhymesters  of  the 
Fronde,  the  mockery  of  high  and  low,  the  civil  war, 
ready  to  lose  her  crown,  and  her  son's  crown  also,  rather 
than  abandon  the  man  who  possessed  her  heart. 

On  the  advice  of  the  Cardinal,  the  Queen  feigned  to 
be  reconciled  to  Conde,  the  intention  being  to  render 
him  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  Frondeurs.  In  this 
she  succeeded,  and  that  doughty  intriguer,  indignant  at 
finding  that  all  the  promises  that  had  been  made  to  him 
were  not  kept,  declined  to  attend  the  Bed  of  Justice  of 
7  September,  1751,  at  which  the  young  King,  being 
then  fourteen,  declared  himself  of  age,  and  retired  to 
his  government  of  Guienne,  where  he  prepared  for  war, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  ally  himself  with  the  Spaniards. 

After  a  year's  residence  at  Brilhl,  Mazarin  resolved 
to  make  an  attempt  to  re-enter  the  kingdom.  During 
the  early  days  of  his  exile,  he  appears  to  have  been 
in  considerable  financial  embarrassment.  The  greater 
part  of  his  property,  including  his  palace  and  its  treas- 
ures, had  been  confiscated  by  a  decree  of  the  Parliament, 
and,  as  he  had  brought  very  little  money  away  with 
him,  his  family  suffered  some  privations.  After  a  while, 
however,  the  Queen  contrived  to  provide  him  with 
funds,  and  by  January  1652,  he  was  in  possession  of 
sufficient  to  raise  an  army  of  6000  men,  at  the  head  of 
which  he  repassed  the  frontier. 

On  learning  of  their  enemy's  return,  the  Parliament 
hastened  to  set  a  price  on  his  head.  The  decree  directed 
that  his  library  and  his  furniture  should  be  sold,  the 
proceeds  to  go  towards  the  sum  of  150,000  livres 
offered  to  the  person  who  should  deliver  him  up  alive 
or  dead.  This  library,  formed  at  such  great  expense,  was 
sold  by  auction  and  dispersed,  the  King's  uncle,  Gaston 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  27 

d'Orleans,  a  rival  bibliophile,  spitefully  insisting  that  it 
should  be  disposed  of  in  detail.^ 

Seeing  the  moment  of  his  reunion  with  the  Queen 
approaching,  Mazarin  redoubled  the  expressions  of 
tenderness  in  the  letters  which  he  addressed  to  his 
middle-aged  Dulcinea.  Marechal  de  Villeroi  had  insisted 
on  the  King  and  Queen  undertaking  a  journey  to 
Poitiers,  and  afterwards  to  Guienne,  with  the  object  of 
placing  as  great  a  distance  as  possible  between  them  and 
the  Cardinal. 

"  The  poor  man  ought  to  know,"  writes  Mazarin, 
"  that  the  friendship  which  22  [the  Queen]  has  for 
26  [Mazarin]  is  easily  proof  against  other  things  than 
a  separation  of  a  hundred  leagues  more,  and  that  the 
interposition  of  a  part  of  the  world  between  these 
two  persons  would  not  be  capable  of  terminating  it, 
whatever  one  might  say.  I  promise  you  that  until  26 
[Mazarin]  can  be  with  you,  who  will  tell  you  more  in  an 
hour  than  I  could  write  in  two  months,  I  will  communi- 
cate with  you  every  three  or  four  days  to  give  you  my 
news.  However,  I  thank  you  for  the  suggestion  you 
have  made,  for  there  is  nothing  so  obliging,  and  I  see 
very  well  that  your  heart  speaks,  and  that  I  am 
greatly  deceived  if  you  have  not  as  much  friendship  for 
me  as  26  has  for  22,  whom  you  know  well  enough  has 
more  merit  than  any  one  in  the  world,  saving  you  only 

1  Mazarin  felt  the  loss  of  his  books  keenly.  "  I  notice,"  he  writes 
from  Pont-sur-Yonne,  ii  January  1652,  "the  precipitation  with  which 
they  wish  to  sell  my  library,  and  I  am  informed  that  his  Royal  Highness 
[Gaston  d'Orleans]  insisted  that  it  should  be  sold  in  detail,  in  order  to 
injure  me  the  sooner.  It  will  be  a  fine  thing  to  read  in  history  that 
Cardinal  Mazarin,  having  taken  so  much  care  for  thirty  years  to  enrich, 
with  the  most  beautiful  and  rarest  books  in  the  world,  a  library  which  he 
intended  to  present  to  the  public,  the  Parliament  of  Paris  decreed  that  it 
should  be  sold,  and  the  money  accruing  therefrom  should  be  employed  to 
cause  the  said  Cardinal  to  be  assassinated." 


28  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

of  the  number,  since,  without  contradiction,  there  is  no 
one  who  can  contest  that  quality  with  you." 

Mazarin,  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  who  wore  the 
green  scarf  of  his  House,  entered  Sedan,  where  his 
devoted  friend  Fabert  received  him  with  open  arms.  He 
seems  to  have  left  his  nieces  in  charge  of  this  loyal 
soldier  until  his  fate  should  be  decided,  after  which  he 
resumed  his  march  towards  Poitiers,  accompanied  by  his 
nephew  Paul  Mancini,  a  youth  of  great  promise,  who 
was  generally  popular. 

In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  Parliament  to  prevent 
his  return  ;  in  spite  of  the  deputation  which  that  body 
despatched  to  Poitiers,  to  demand  of  the  King  that  he 
should  "  keep  this  foreigner  at  a  distance,  not  only  from 
his  counsels,  but  also  from  the  whole  extent  of  the  la^ids 
which  owed  him  obedience,  and  even  from  the  frontier"  ; 
in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  on  30  January,  1652,  Mazarin 
arrived  at  Poitiers,  riding  in  triumph  in  the  King's 
coach,  preceded  by  Louis  himself  and  his  little  brother, 
the  Due  d'Anjou.  The  Queen,  we  may  presume,  re- 
ceived the  Cardinal  with  at  least  as  much  favour  as  had 
her  son,  and  the  same  evening  Mazarin  supped  with 
their  Majesties. 

A  week  later  the  Duchesse  de  Mercoeur  and  Olympe 
Mancini,  escorted  by  their  brother  Paul,  re-entered 
Paris.  A  journal  of  the  time  announced  their  arrival 
as  follows  : — 

"The  3rd  of  this  month  of  February  arrived  here, 
by  the  Porte  Saint-Antoine,  the  nieces  of  his  Excellency 
preceded  by  the  Princesse  de  Carignan,^  the  Princesse 

1  Marie  de  Bourbon  (1606-92),  daughter  of  Charles  de  Bourbon, 
Comte  de  Soissons  (i 566-161 2)  and  Anne  de  Montafie,  and  wife  of 
Prince  Thomas  Francois  de  Carignan,  son  of  Charles  Emmanuel  the 
Great,  of  Savoy. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  29 

Louise,  her  daughter,  Mar^chal  de  Guebriand,  the 
Marquis  d'Ampus,  and  a  number  of  ladies  of  condition. 
They  alighted  at  the  Hotel  de  Vendome,  where  the 
dowager-duchess,  accompanied  by  several  ladies,  wel- 
comed them  with  the  greatest  marks  of  affection,  which 
were  principally  bestowed  on  the  Duchesse  de  Mercoeur, 
her  daughter-in-law.  Then,  having  been  conducted  to 
the  Louvre,  they  were  favourably  received  by  their 
Majesties,  after  which  the  Queen  caused  them  to  be 
conducted  into  the  apartment  which  had  been  prepared 
for  them  in  that  residence.  In  the  evening,  they  were 
splendidly  entertained  by  the  Princesse  de  Carignan, 
who  provided  for  them  every  possible  diversion.  .  .  . 
Since,  they  have  permitted  them  to  receive  after  dinner 
the  visits  full  of  honour  and  affection  which  the  ladies 
of  the  Court  and  town  rendered  them."^ 

The  cordial  welcome  extended  to  the  sisters  by  the 
Princesse  de  Carignan  would  appear  to  suggest  that  she 
already  regarded  with  a  favourable  eye  the  possibility  of 
an  alliance  between  Olympe  Mancini  and  her  son.  Prince 
Eugene  de  Savoie-Carignan,  which  actually  took  place 
five  years  later.  But  the  Cardinal,  who  always  made  a 
point  of  never  showing  any  eagerness  for  the  establish- 
ment of  his  nieces,  pretended  not  to  notice  it. 

Scarcely  had  Mazarin  returned,  when  the  troubles 
recommenced  more  violently  than  ever.  Failing  in 
an  attempt  to  get  the  Cardinal  proscribed  anew,  Conde 
began  a  regular  war  against  the  Court,  and  gained  some 
unimportant  successes  over  Mar^chal  d'Hocquincourt, 
who  commanded  the  royal  army.  The  object  of  the 
prince  was  apparently  to  get  possession  of  the  person  of 
the  young  King.  But  Turenne,  recalled  by  an  urgent 
^  Cited  by  Lucian  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


30  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

message  from  Louis,  quitted  the  army  which  was  con- 
fronting the  Spaniards  and  hastened  to  Bl^neau,  where, 
on  7  April,  he  saved  the  rest  of  the  Royalists  and  Louis 
himself,  who  was  at  Gien,  and,  in  the  event  of  defeat, 
would  in  all  probability  have  fallen  into  his  rebellious 
kinsman's    hands.     Three    weeks    later,    Turenne    and 
d'Hocquincourt  gained  a  fresh  success   over  Conde  at 
Etampes,  where  the  latter  lost  over  a  thousand  men.    A 
futile  attempt  at  negotiations  on  the  part  of  the  prince 
followed,  after  which  he  quitted  his  post  at  Saint-Cloud 
and   crossed   the  Seine,  with   the  intention   of  occupy- 
ing Charenton.     Hard   pressed,  however,  by  the   royal 
troops,  he   was    compelled    to   throw  himself  into    the 
Faubourg  Saint-Antoine,  where,  on  2  July,  a  battle  was 
fought,  which  would    undoubtedly  have   ended   in   the 
total  destruction  of  Conde's  army,  had   not  la   Grande 
Mademoiselle  persuaded  the  citizens  to  open  their  gates 
to  the  retreating  Frondeurs  and  turned  the  cannon  of 
the  Bastille  on  the  victorious  Royalists.     "  Voila  un  coup 
de  canon  qui  a  tui  un  mari  I "  Mazarin,  who  had  watched 
the  fighting  from  a  place  of  safety,  is  reported  to  have 
exclaimed,  when  the  first  gun  was  fired,  meaning  thereby 
that    Madetnoiselle   had    destroyed    all    chance    of   ever 
becoming  the  consort  of  Louis  XIV. 

The  combat  was  a  sanguinary  one,  and  the  Cardinal 
had  the  grief  to  learn  that,  amongst  the  Royalist  officers 
most  severely  wounded,  was  his  nephew  Paul  Mancini, 
who,  though  barely  fifteen  years  of  age,  had  recently 
been  appointed  mestre  de  camp  of  the  Regiment  de  la 
Marine,  and  had  fought  with  the  greatest  gallantry  at 
the  head  of  his  men.  The  young  officer  was  conveyed 
to  Saint-Denis,  where  the  Court  had  established  itself, 
and  the  surgeons  pronounced  his  wound  a  very  danger- 
ous one.     However,  since  he  had  youth  and  an  excel- 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  31 

lent  constitution  on  his  side,  they  held  out  some  hope  of 
his  recovery,  provided  that  he  could  be  ensured  absolute 
rest.  Unhappily,  the  Court  was  obliged  to  leave  Saint- 
Denis,  where  the  King  was  not  considered  in  safety,  and 
Mazarin,  fearing  to  leave  the  lad  to  the  tender  mercies 
of  Conde's  defeated  soldiery  or  the  populace  of  Paris, 
who  might  have  vented  upon  him  their  hatred  of  his 
uncle,  gave  directions  that  he  was  to  be  removed  in 
a  litter.  This  journey  proved  fatal  to  the  poor  youth, 
who  died  the  following  day,  at  Pontoise,  a  few  hours 
after  receiving  the  brevet  of  colonel  of  the  Chevau- 
Icgers  of  his  guard  from  Louis  XIV's  own  hands. 

Mazarin,  who  did  not  ordinarily  evince  much  sensi- 
bility where  members  of  his  family  were  concerned,  was 
in  despair  at  the  death  of  his  nephew  ;  he  had  reckoned 
on  the  favour  of  the  King,  who  was  much  attached  to 
the  boy,  to  ensure  him  a  brilliant  future,  and  had  enter- 
tained for  him  a  sincere  affection.  With  the  idea  of 
perpetuating  his  memory,  he  composed  a  lengthy  epitaph 
in  which  Mancini  himself  is  supposed  to  recount  to 
those  who  pass  by  his  touching  history. 

The  Cardinal's  grief  was  little  respected  by  the  Fronde, 
whose  pamphleteers  made  it  the  occasion  to  pour  upon 
him  a  deluge  of  abominable  invectives  and  cynical 
pleasantries.  To  understand,  indeed,  the  hatred  with 
which  the  Minister  was  regarded,  it  is  necessary  to 
peruse  some  of  these  Mazarinades,  unprofitable  reading 
though  they  be  ;  for  their  authors  did  not  hesitate  to 
declare  that  Mazarin  combined  in  his  own  person  all  the 
vices  of  both  modern  times  and  antiquity  ;  and  the 
ignorant  mob  believed  them.  One  scribe  went  so  far 
as  to  publish  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Le  Facte  de  Mazarin 
avec  le  demon,"  in  which  he  asserted  that  the  Cardinal 
"  had  given  his  soul  and  body  to  the  devil,  on  condition 


32  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

of  becoming  the  richest  and  most  powerful  man  in 
Europe,  beloved  of  fair  ladies,  and  of  dying  in  his  bed." 
This  contract  was  supposed  to  have  been  entered  into 
at  Rome  in  the  year  1632. 

It  is  singular  to  reflect  that  the  Minister  who  was  the 
object  of  all  this  scurrilous  abuse  had,  whatever  his 
faults  may  have  been,  never  wavered  in  his  fidelity  to 
the  country  of  his  adoption,  while  those  who  vilified 
him  were  the  mouthpieces  of  men  who  intrigued  and 
even  fought  with  the  enemies  of  France. 

The  inveterate  hatred  with  which  the  partisans  of 
Conde,  the  Parliament,  and  the  Parisians  generally  re- 
garded Mazarin  had  been  rather  accentuated  than 
appeased  by  the  Royalist  successes  in  the  field,  and 
though  the  citizens  opened  negotiations  with  the  King, 
they  firmly  declined  to  return  to  their  allegiance  until 
the  Minister  was  removed.  The  Queen  was  naturally 
violently  opposed  to  such  a  demand  ;  but  Mazarin  him- 
self advised  compliance,  well  knowing  that  his  exile 
would  be  but  a  brief  one  ;  and  Anne  finally  consented, 
at  the  same  time  intimating  in  unmistakable  terms  that 
she  was  acting  under  constraint. 

The  Cardinal  left  Pontoise  on  19  August  1652, 
having  recommended  as  first  minister  Prince  Thomas  de 
Savoie,  while  his  faithful  henchmen  Servien  and  Le 
Tellier  remained  at  their  posts.  He  proceeded  to 
Bouillon  and  thence  to  Cologne,  from  which  city  he 
kept  up  an  active  correspondence  with  the  Queen,  and 
continued  to  direct  all  her  actions.  She,  on  her  part, 
carried  out  his  instructions  with  the  utmost  docility, 
taking  upon  her  own  shoulders  all  the  odium  which 
some  of  them  aroused,  and  did  not  cease  to  urge  the 
return  of  her  beloved  Minister  in  the  most  tender  and 
impassioned  terms. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  33 

"  I  know  not  when  I  ought  to  look  for  your  return," 
she  writes,  "  since  new  obstacles  to  hinder  it  are  con- 
stantly arising.  All  that  I  can  say  is,  that  I  am  very 
weary,  and  bear  this  delay  with  great  impatience,  and  if 
16  [Mazarin]  knew  all  that  15  [the  Queen]  suffers  in 
this  way,  I  am  sure  that  he  would  be  touched.  I  suffer 
so  much  at  this  moment  that  I  have  not  the  strength  to 
write  for  long,  nor  do  I  know  too  well  what  to  say.  I 
have  received  your  letters  almost  every  day,  without 
which  1  know  not  what  would  happen.  Continue  to 
write  as  often,  since  you  afford  me  some  consolation  in 
the  state  in  which  I  am.  ...  At  the  worst,  you  have 
only  to  throw  the  blame  for  the  delay  on  15  [the  Queen], 
who  is  a  thousand  times  ^  [yours]  and  until  her  last  sigh. 
The  child  [the  Due  de  Mercoeur]  will  tell  you  everything. 
Adieu  ;  I  can  write  no  more,  and  he  [Mazarin]  knows 
why.   .   .   ." 

At  length,  all  difficulties  having  been  overcome,  the 
Cardinal  was  recalled.  His  return  was  preceded  by  a 
considerable  service  to  the  State.  At  his  own  expense 
he  raised  and  equipped  a  body  of  troops  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Liege,  and  joined  Turenne,  who  was  laying 
siege  to  Bar-le-Duc.  In  spite  of  the  severity  of  the 
winter,  the  Cardinal  displayed  so  much  activity  and  en- 
thusiasm that  those  about  him  found  it  difficult  to  believe 
that  he  had  ever  exchanged  the  sword  for  the  soutane. 
The  place  surrendered  after  a  brief  resistance,  and,  on 
9  February  1653,  Mazarin  re-entered  Paris  in  a  blaze 
of  glory.  The  King,  followed  by  the  greatest  nobles  of 
the  Court,  went  to  meet  the  returning  Minister  as  far  as 
Bourget,  insisted  on  his  entering  his  coach,  and  brought 
him  in  triumph  to  the  Louvre,  where  a  magnificent  suite 
of  apartments  had  been  prepared  for  him. 

And  —  singular  transformation  !  —  the  same  people 


34  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

who,  but  six  short  months  before,  had  execrated  the  very 
name  of  the  Italian  adventurer,  now  received  him  with 
shouts  of  welcome.  "The  time  of  storm  was  past," 
says  Henault,  "  and  one  respected  in  him  a  fortune 
which  so  many  trials  had  been  powerless  to  overthrow." 


CHAPTER   III 

Mazarin  summons  a  second  detachment  of  his  family  to  France — Marie 
Mancini's  account  of  her  childhood  and  of  the  journey  to  France — 
Marriage  of  the  Prince  de  Conti  to  Anne-Marie  Martinozzi — Their 
married  life — Arrival  of  Laure  Martinozzi,  Marie,  Hortense,  and 
Philippe  Mancini,  and  their  mothers  in  Paris — Character  of  Madame 
Mancini — Her  dislike  of  her  daughter  Marie — She  persuades  the 
Cardinal  to  send  Marie  to  the  Couvent  de  la  Visitation — Hortense 
joins  her  sister — Remarkable  progress  of  Marie  in  her  studies — Let- 
ters of  Marie  and  Hortense  to  the  Cardinal — Marie  leaves  the  convent 
and  joins  the  Court  at  La  Fere — A  manage  manque — Marie  returns 
to  her  mother — Marriage  of  Laure  Martinozzi  to  the  Prince  of 
Modena — Marianne  and  Alphonse  Mancini  brought  to  France — A 
practical  joke — Harsh  treatment  of  Marie  by  her  mother — Marie's 
studies — Illness  of  Madame  Mancini — Beginning  of  the  friendship 
between  Marie  and  Louis  XIV — Death  of  Madame  Mancini — And 
of  the  Duchesse  de  Mercoeur. 


A  FTER  the  Fronde,  Mazarin,  with  all  his  enemies  out- 
•"^  witted  and  incomparably  the  wealthiest  subject  in 
Europe,  devoted  himself  to  still  further  strengthening 
his  authority  by  new  and  brilliant  alliances  for  his  family. 
On  1 8  April  1653,  he  wrote  to  his  father,  in  Rome, 
to  acquaint  him  with  his  intention  to  bring  his  niece, 
Anne-Marie  Martinozzi,  to  France,  and  to  request  him 
to  confer  with  the  French  Ambassador  to  the  Vatican 
and  "  make  all  the  preparations  he  judged  necessary." 
At  the  same  time,  he  demanded  of  his  sister,  Signora 
Mancini,  her  son  Philippe,  and  her  eldest  remaining 
daughter  Marie.  The  last  named,  in  a  rare  little  work 
entitled  "  La   Veritc   dans   son  jour,   ou  les  Veritables 

35 


36  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

Memoires  de  M.  Manchini,  connetable  Colonne,"^  has 
left  us  some  interesting  details  of  her  childhood,  which 
help  us  to  understand  her  character  and  the  original  turn 
of  her  mind  : 

"  Rome  witnessed  my  birth,  of  a  family  illustrious 
enough  to  make  itself  esteemed  for  its  own  renown,  and 
which  needed  not  the  glory  of  Cardinal  Mazarin  to  en- 
able it  to  take  a  sufficiently  high  place  in  the  chief  city 
in  the  world.  At  the  age  of  seven,  my  mother,  to  whom 
I  appeared  less  beautiful  than  my  sister  Hortense,  to-day 
Duchesse  de  Mazarin,  placed  me  in  the  Campo  Marzio, 
convent  of  the  Order  of  Saint-Benedict,  with  the  idea 
of  having  me  brought  up  in  the  religious  life.  At  the 
end  of  two  years,  although  my  mother  had  much  less 
inclination  for  me  than  for  my  sister,  she  did  not  fail  to 
be  touched  by  my  feeble  health  ;  and,  attributing  my  in- 
disposition to  the  close  confinement  in  which  I  was  kept 
and  to  the  impure  air  which  I  breathed  in  the  convent — 
which,  in  fact,  was  very  unhealthy — she  took  me  away 
and  made  me  return  to  her. 

"  About  two  years  after  I  had  left  the  convent,  my 
uncle,  the  Cardinal,  whose  fortune  had  already  reached 
its  height,  desired,  for  the  example  of  the  .  .  .^  to  increase 
it  still  further  by  allowing  others  to  participate  therein  ; 

1  This  book,  published  in  Spain,  but  which  bears  no  date,  must  not 
be  confused  with  the  better  known  "Apologie  ou  les  Veritables  Memoires 
de  Madame  Marie  Mancini,  connetable  de  Colonna,  ecrits  par  elle-meme. 
A  Leide,  pour  I'auteur,  chez  Jean  von  Gelder,  a.  la  Tortue,  1678,"  or 
with  "  Les  Memoires  de  M.  L.  P.  M.  M.  (Madame  la  Princesse  Marie 
Mancini)  Colonne  G.  Connetable  du  royaume  de  Naples.  A  Cologne, 
chez  Pierre  Marteau,  1676."  The  latter  work  is  apocryphal,  while  the 
•'  Apologie  "  would  appear  to  have  been  written  from  the  manuscript  of 
*'  La  Verite  dans  son  jour,"  which  Marie  Mancini  had  confided  to  a 
person  of  the  name  of  Bremont.  Bremont,  without  altering  the  facts, 
which  are  identical  in  the  two  works,  altogether  perverted  the  style  in 
his  efforts  to  improve  it. 

2  An  illegible  word. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  37 

and  this  obliged  him  to  summon  to  him  my  mother  and 
my  aunt  Martinozzi,  with  orders  to  each  of  them  to 
bring  her  eldest  daughter.  This  direction  seemed  to 
exclude  my  sister  Hortense,  as  being  the  younger  ;  but 
her  beauty  had  given  her  the  elder's  privilege  in  the 
inclination  of  my  mother,  who  did  not,  however,  fail  to 
explain  to  me  my  uncle's  wishes,  and  would  no  doubt 
have  been  pleased  if  I  had  declined  to  obey  him,  a 
matter  concerning  which  I  had  no  difficulty  in  coming 
to  a  decision,  inasmuch  as  she  bade  me  choose  between 
going  to  France  or  remaining  in  Rome  with  my  aunt 
and  consecrating  myself  to  God  in  a  cloister.  To  which, 
I  remember,  that  I  replied  that  there  were  convents 
everywhere,  and  that  when  it  pleased  Heaven  to  inspire 
me  with  pious  aspirations,  it  would  be  as  easy  to  follow 
them  in  Paris  as  in  Rome  ;  moreover,  that  I  was  not  yet 
old  enough  to  decide  so  important  a  matter. 

"  This  answer  disabused  my  mother  of  the  error 
under  which  she  had  hitherto  lain  and  made  her  deter- 
mine to  bring  me;  and,  to  spare  herself  the  resentment 
which  the  fact  of  my  being  preferred  to  my  sister  had 
occasioned  her,  she  brought  us  both. 

"  We  accordingly  embarked  in  a  Genoese  galley, 
which  that  republic,  which  had  a  very  particular  regard 
for  the  Cardinal,  had  sent  for  us.  I  shall  not  pause 
here  to  describe  this  moving  mansion,  since  it  would  be 
necessary  to  consume  too  much  time  in  depicting  all  its 
beauties,  its  spruceness,  its  richness,  and  its  magnifi- 
cence ;  and  it  will  be  enough  for  me  to  say  that  we 
were  treated  as  queens  during  our  voyage,  and  that  the 
tables  of  sovereigns  were  not  served  with  more  pomp 
and  splendour  than  was  ours  four  times  a  day. 

"  We  disembarked  at  length  at  Marseilles,  in  May 
1653,  where  my  aunt,  who  was  a  little  too  scrupulous, 


38  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

for  a  long  time  declined  to  receive  the  corporation  of 
the  town,  who  begged  to  be  permitted  to  pay  their 
respects,  being  unable  to  make  up  her  mind  to  the 
form  of  salutation  in  vogue  in  France.^  This  delicacy 
was  at  last  overcome,  though  with  great  difficulty  and 
afforded  material  for  laughter  to  many  people,  who  were 
astonished,  and  with  reason  enough,  that  she  made  so 
much  mystery  over  a  formality  sanctioned  by  custom 
and  justified  by  so  long  a  voyage. 

"  From  Marseilles  we  passed  to  Aix,  where  we  were 
received  by  the  governor  of  the  province,  who  was  at 
that  time  the  Due  de  Mercceur,  the  first  French  noble 
who  had  up  to  then  allied  himself  with  the  Cardinal, 
having  espoused  Laure  Mancini,  my  eldest  sister,  whom 
he  himself  had  demanded  at  Cologne,  at  the  time  when 
his  Eminence  was  obliged  to  withdraw  thither.  We 
remained  eight  months  in  this  town  of  Aix,  where  the 
duke  my  brother-in-law  entertained  us  in  the  most 
magnificent  manner  conceivable,  and  where  my  sister, 
his  wife,  came  to  join  us  two  months  later,  and  con- 
tributed in  every  possible  way  to  make  the  time  pass 
agreeably." 

While  the  second  detachment  of  the  Cardinal's  family 
was  at  Aix,  where  Madame  de  Mercosur  busied  herself 
with  instructing  her  young  sisters  and  cousin  in  the 
etiquette  of  the  French  Court,  devoting  particular  atten- 
tion to  Marie,  whose  early  education,  partly  owing  to 
her  ill-health  and  partly  owing  to  the  indifference  with 
which  her  mother  regarded  her,  had  been  much 
neglected,  Mazarin  was  employed  in  concluding  arrange- 
ments for  the  union  of  his  family  with  Royalty  itself, 

^  This  consisted  in  embracing  the  women  and  in  allowing  the  men  to 
kiss  the  lady's  hand. 


From  an  engraving  by  Frosne 

ARMAXD   DE    BOURBON,    PRINCE    DE   CONTI 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  39 

by  an  alliance  between  Anne-Marie  Martinozzi  and  the 
Prince  de  Conti,  younger  brother  of  Cond6. 

Armand  de  Bourbon,  Prince  de  Conti,  who  was  at 
this  time  about  thirty-four  years  of  age,  had  been 
originally  destined  for  the  Church,  and  though  he  had 
resisted  the  imposition  of  hands  ecclesiastical,  had 
received  as  -his  appanage  many  rich  abbeys,  such  as 
Saint-Denis,  Cluny,  and  L6rens.  In  person,  he  was 
short  and  slightly  deformed,  defects  which  were  atoned 
for  by  a  strikingly  handsome  face  and  charming  man- 
ners. Always  under  the  influence  of  his  celebrated 
sister,  Madame  de  Longueville,  he  joined  the  Fronde, 
and  when  Mazarin  returned  from  his  second  exile,  was 
engaged  in  defending  Bordeaux  against  the  royal  troops,  in 
company  with  the  Due  and  Duchesse  de  Longueville  and 
the  Princesse  de  Conde  and  her  son  the  Due  d'Enghien. 
When  at  length  the  city  surrendered,  he  found  himself 
in  a  humiliating  position.  In  disgrace  at  Court,  his 
large  fortune  almost  entirely  gone,  and  crippled  with 
debt,  he  was  one  day  bewailing  his  lot  and  comparing 
it  with  that  of  the  Due  de  Candale,  who  had  com- 
manded the  Royalists  besieging  Bordeaux,  when  his 
secretary,  the  poet  Sarrazin,  advised  him  "  to  do  as 
M.  de  Candale  was  about  to  do."  (A  marriage  between 
Candale  and  one  of  the  Cardinal's  nieces  was  then 
being  talked  of).  Conti  caught  at  his  secretary's 
suggestion  as  a  drowning  man  catches  at  a  straw,  and, 
though  his  almoner,  Daniel  de  Cosnac,  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop of  Aix,  opposed  the  project,  the  counsels  of 
Sarrazin  prevailed,  and  he  was  despatched  to  Paris  to 
conduct  the  negotiation. 

The   secretary  broached  the  subject  to  the  Minister,' 

1  According  to  one  account,  it  was  the  Cardinal  who,  some  little  time 
before  this,  had  broached  the  matter  to  Sarrazin,  and  had  offered  him  a 
considerable  bribe  to  put  the  idea  into  his  master's  head. 


40  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

who,  although  overjoyed  at  the  prospect  of  a  union 
between  a  member  of  his  family  and  a  Prince  of  the 
Blood,  was  faithful  to  his  character,  and  succeeded  in 
beating  his  prospective  nephew  down  several  hundred 
thousand  livres  in  the  matter  of  the  dot. 

From    the   "  M6moires "   of   Cosnac,    which    contain 
many  curious  details  about  this  affair,  it  would  appear 
that  Conti  had  given  Sarrazin  carte  blanche  in  regard  to 
the  choice  of  his  princess,  observing  that  it  was  a  matter 
of  perfect  indifference  to  him  which  of  the  young  ladies 
was  allotted  him,  since  it  was  the  Cardinal  and  not  a 
wife  that  he  desired  to  espouse.     Sarrazin,  good  servant 
that  he  was,  proved  himself  worthy  of  so  much  con- 
fidence, and  demanded  for  his  master  the  most  beautiful 
and    the    most    virtuous    of    the    nieces — Anne-Marie 
Martinozzi,   to   wit.      Poor  Anne-Marie   would   vastly 
have  preferred  accepting  the  homage  of  the  fascinating 
Candale,  to  whom   she  had   practically  been  promised. 
But  her  uncle's  wishes  were  law ;  and,  besides,  the  duke 
regarded  the  matter  with  the  same  eye  as  the  prince — 
it  was  the  Cardinal  whom  he  proposed  to  espouse  ;  and, 
by  no  means  unwilling  to  prolong  his  career  of  gallantry, 
withdrew  his  pretensions  without  hesitation. 

It  is  sad  to  relate  that,  while  these  negotiations  were 
in  progress,  the  Prince  de  Conti  was  preparing  himself 
for  the  duties  of  matrimony  by  frequenting  public  bah 
masques  and  other  questionable  entertainments,  and  lead- 
ing generally  so  dissipated  a  life  that  his  health  remained 
seriously  affected  for  some  time  afterwards. 

The  betrothal  took  place  on  21  February  1654,  at 
the  Louvre,  and,  on  the  following  day,  the  marriage  was 
celebrated,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  in  the  Queen's 
Chapel.  The  bride  wore  "  a  dress  of  brocade,  enriched 
with  pearls  of  very  great  price,  and  was  conducted  to 


^1- ait  C.I  huis  i/oj  L^/f'^'     /,'/•//' 
Q/^/   ruftcj-   rnq/trc   i  i'/ti  i    / 

'^>.'   //    l^'ati  que  retl> 


ANNK   MAKIE   iMAK  i  INO/Zl,   PKINCESSE   DE   CONil 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  41 

the  chapel  by  their  Majesties,  Monsieur,  the  Prince  de 
Conti,  Cardinal  Mazarin,  and  several  other  leaders  of 
the  Court." 

The  Prince  de  Conti  had  certainly  every  reason  to 
consider  himself  a  fortunate  man,  for  not  only  did  his 
marriage  restore  to  him  all  the  offices  and  dignities  he 
had  lost  by  his  conduct  during  the  Fronde,  plus  a  hand- 
some dowry,  the  government  of  Guienne,  and  a  magnifi- 
cent hotel  on  the  Quai  Malaquais,  which  the  Cardinal, 
in  a  fit  of  generosity,  subsequently  erected  for  him  at 
his  own  expense,  but  it  brought  him  an  extremely 
beautiful  wife,  who  joined  to  her  loveliness  "  much 
sweetness  of  temper,  much  intelligence,  and  good 
sense.  "^ 

The  union  proved  a  happy  one,  in  spite  of  occasional 
fits  of  jealousy  on  the  prince's  part,  for  which  his  wife, 
who,  though  at  the  time,  of  their  marriage  "  merely  an 
honest  pagan,"  soon  became  a  devote  of  the  most 
rigorous  type,  seems  to  have  given  him  not  the 
shadow  of  a  cause,"  and  in  spite,  too,  of  his  own 
occasional  lapses  from  the  path  of  virtue,  during  one  of 
which  he  attempted  ineffectually  to  pose  as  the  lover  of 

^  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  Memoires."  If  we  are  to  believe  con- 
temporary gossip,  Conti  would  not  appear  at  first  to  have  fully  appreci- 
ated his  good  fortune.  He  was  ashamed  of  his  marriage,  and  vented  his 
ill-humour  on  Sarrazin,  whom  he  smote  on  the  head  with  a  pair  of 
tongs,  inflicting  injuries  whereof  the  unfortunate  poet  died.  This  tragic 
incident  gave  rise  to  the  following  quatrain  : — 

Deux  charmants,  deux  famcux  poetes, 
Disciples  de  Marot,  Du  Cerceau,  Sarrazin, 
Ont  eternise  les  pincettes. 
Le  premier  par  ses  verses  et  I'autre  par  sa  fin. 

2  Once,  not  long  after  the  marriage,  Louis  XIV,  then  seventeen,  was 
so  imprudent  as  to  attempt  to  make  love  to  the  princess,  who  received  his 
advances  so  very  ungraciously,  that,  the  following  day,  the  Cardinal  com- 
pelled her  to  apologize  to  his  Majesty.  Conti,  who  was  then  in  Spain, 
informed  of  what  had  occurred,  sent  orders  for  his  wife  to  join  him 
immediately.      Few  husbands,  in  those  days,  showed  a  like  discretion. 


42  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Madame  de  S6vigne.  These  lapses,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  celebrated  Due  de  Joyeuse,  were  generally  followed 
by  violent  fits  of  penitence  and  devotion,  and  at  length, 
under  the  twofold  influence  of  his  wife  and  his  sister 
Madame  de  Longueville,  religion  triumphed,  and  he 
became  sincerely  devout.  "  The  beauty  of  his  peni- 
tence," says  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  surpassed  the 
ugliness  of  his  faults "  ;  but  it  would  have  perhaps 
been  as  well  for  his  reputation  with  posterity  if  he 
had  refrained  from  publishing  his  indictment  of  the 
theatre,  wherein  this  erstwhile  patron  of  Moli^re  gravely 
informs  us  that  a  troupe  of  actors  is  "  a  troupe  of 
devils,"  and  to  amuse  oneself  at  the  theatre  is  to 
*'  delight  the  demon." 

The  Princesse  de  Conti  favoured  Jansenist  doctrines, 
and,  after  her  husband's  death,  which  occurred  in  1666, 
became  the  protector  and  patroness  of  Port  Royal.  She 
was  also  extremely  beneficent  ;  at  least  two-thirds  of  the 
wealth  with  which  her  uncle  had  endowed  her  were 
dispensed  in  charity,  and  an  inscription  on  her  tomb  in 
Saint-Andre-des-Arts  informs  us  that,  during  the  famine 
of  1662,  she  sold  all  her  jewellery  to  feed  the  starving 
poor  of  Berry,  Champagne,  and  Picardy.  She  diec  six 
years  after  her  husband,  leaving  two  sons,  one  of  wi.om 
married  Mile,  de  Blois,  daughter  of  Louis  XIV  and 
Louise  de  la  Valliere,  and  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  ;  while  the  other  survived  to  be  the  highest 
ornament  of  his  house. 

Some  few  weeks  before  the  Conti-Martinozzi  mar- 
riage, the  second  detachment  of  the  Cardinal's  family 
had  left  Aix  for  Paris.  Mazarin  did  not  deem  it  advis- 
able that  his  young  relatives  should  proceed  directly  to 
the  capital,  but  instructed  them  to  break  their  journey 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  43 

at  the  Chateau  de  Villeroi,  near  Corbeil,  where  their 
uncle  visited  them,  to  assure  himself  that  they  had 
benefited  sufficiently  by  the  lessons  of  the  Duchesse  de 
Mercoeur  to  pass  muster  at  Court.  The  result  of  his 
examination  being  satisfactory,  he  gave  orders  for  them 
to  proceed  to  Paris,  where  they  arrived  at  the  beginning 
of  February,'  and  were  immediately  presented  to  their 
Majesties,  "  who  received  them  with  marks  of  extra- 
ordinary kindness."  The  courtiers,  of  course,  followed 
suit,and  overwhelmed  the  little  strangers  with  attentions  ; 
while  even  the  rhymesters  of  the  Fronde,  who  had  so 
lately  been  holding  Mazarin  and  all  his  belongings  up  to 
ridicule  and  odium,  now  vied  with  one  another  in  chant- 
ing their  praises  : 

Les  Mancini,  les  Martinosses, 
Illustres  matieres  de  noces  ! 

The  new  arrivals  assisted  at  the  marriage  of  their 
cousin  to  the  Prince  de  Conti  and  the  brilliant  fetes 
which  followed  it,  where  the  beauty  of  the  little  Hortense 
Mancini  seems  to  have  been  particularly  remarked  upon. 
Three  months  later  (7  June),  the  King,  who  had  just 
attained  the  age  of  fifteen,  was  crowned  at  Rheims,  and 
Philippe  Mancini  had  the  honour  of  being  selected  as 
one  of  the  bearers  of  the  Holy  Ampulla.  It  may 
here  be  remarked  that  Mazarin,  who  had  been  deeply 
attached  to  Paul  Mancini,  always  entertained  a  strong 
aversion  to  Philippe,  who  had  no  merit,  in  his  eyes, 
save  that  of  being  of  his  own  blood,  and  whom  he 
invariably  treated  with  the  greatest  harshness  and 
severity. 

Madame  Mancini,  or  de  Mancini,  as  she  was  now 
called — for,  by  the  Cardinal's  desire,  his  relatives,  since 
their  arrival  in  Paris,  had  prefixed  the  French  territorial 
prefix  to  their  names — was  allotted  a  suite  of  apartments 


44  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

in  the  Louvre,  where  Marie  and  Hortense  lived  with 
her.  She  appears  to  have  been  a  singularly  unpleasant 
kind  of  woman,  ill-tempered,  bigoted,  and  superstitious. 
(She  believed  with  equal  fervour  in  the  power  of  saints 
and  of  astrologers.)  What  affection  she  had  to  bestow 
was  concentrated  on  three  of  her  daughters — Madame 
de  Mercoeur,  Olympe,  and  the  little  Hortense.  Marie 
she  could  not  endure,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  had  only 
brought  her  to  France  with  extreme  reluctance.  She 
now  advised  her  brother  to  send  the  girl  to  a  convent, 
hoping  that,  once  there,  she  would  remain  there.  The 
Cardinal  was  far  from  sharing  his  sister's  feelings  with 
regard  to  his  niece  ;  but,  inasmuch  as  Marie,  at  this 
time  a  thin,  sallow-complexioned,  and  ungainly  child, 
did  not  strike  him  as  likely  to  create  a  favourable 
impression  at  Court,  he  decided  to  do  as  Madame 
Mancini  suggested,  and  the  girl  was  accordingly  sent 
to  the  Couvent  de  la  Visitation,  in  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Jacques,  "  to  see,"  as  his  Eminence  expressed  it,  "  if  she 
would  not  put  on  a  little  flesh." 

Flere,  two  months  later,  she  was  joined  by  her  little 
sister  Hortense,  "  who  was  too  much  of  a  child  to 
remain  at  Court,  to  which  her  beauty  had  introduced 
her,  and  where  every  one  was  so  pleased  to  see  her,  even 
up  to  Monsieur,^  who,  child  though  he  was,  could  not 
live  without  her.  His  Eminence  added  that  she  was  a 
little  too  obstinate,  to  which,  he  said,  the  liberty  she  had 
been  allowed  to  enjoy  in  the  great  world  had  too  much 
contributed."  ^ 

The  abbess  of  the  Couvent  de  la  Visitation  was  M^re 
Elisabeth  de  Lamoignon,  sister  of  the  First  President  of 

^  The  Due  d'Anjou,  afterwards  Due  d'Orleans,  the  King's  brother. 
'^  "  La   Verite   dans   son  jour,   ou   les    Veritables   Memoires   de  M. 
Mancini,  connetable  Colonne.' 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  45 

the  Parliament  of  Paris,  "who  was  charged  to  instruct  us 
and  to  teach  us  the  language  and  all  that  she  considered 
necessary  for  girls  of  our  age  and  rank."  ^  Madame  de 
Lamoignon  quickly  perceived  that  in  Marie  she  had  no 
ordinary  pupil.  The  young  girl  was  singularly  gifted, 
and  learned  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  The  most 
difficult  subjects  did  not  seem  to  present  any  difficulties 
to  her,  and  so  marvellous  was  her  memory  that  she  was 
able  to  retain  whole  pages  from  tragedies  and  poems. 
Moreover,  she  was  an  indefatigable  student,  the  reason 
being  that,  young  though  she  was,  she  was  well  aware 
that,  if  she  wished  to  occupy  a  place  at  Court,  the  object 
of  all  her  desires,  her  only  chance  was  to  atone  by  the 
graces  of  the  mind  for  her  lack  of  physical  attractions. 

The  abbess  did  not  fail  to  render  an  account  of  the 
astonishing  progress  made  by  her  pupil  to  the  Cardinal, 
who  expressed  himself  much  gratified  ;  but  he  had 
conceived  a  great  affection  for  Hortense,  who  remained 
the  favourite  among  his  nieces  to  the  end  of  his  life, 
and  it  was  she  who  addressed  to  her  uncle  requests 
which  Marie  would  never  have  dared  to  make.  Thus, 
two  months  after  entering  the  convent,  we  find  her 
writing  to  the  Cardinal  the  following  letter  : — 

Hortense  de  Mancini  to  Cardinal  Mazarin. 

"  I  July  1654,  Couvent  de  la  Visitation, 

*'  Faubourg  Saint-Jacques. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — I  have  been  too  long  in  this  place 
without  giving  myself  the  honour  of  writing  to  your 
Eminence.  I  had  intended  to  wait  until  I  was  more 
proficient  in  writing,  but  I  am  impatient  to  know  if  the 
little  Hortense  is  still  honoured  by  your  remembrance. 
She  is  striving  hard    to  learn   how  to   serve  God   and 

1  uu. 


46  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

to  make  herself  very  wise,  in  order  to  merit  this  favour. 
If  your  Excellency  would  be  willing  to  favour  me  with 
one  of  his  visits,  as  he  promised  me,  that  would  be  the 
summit  of  my  happiness.  If  I  cannot  have  this  honour, 
at  least  I  beg  your  Eminence  very  humbly  to  remember 
to  give  instructions  to  M.  Colbert  touching  that  which 
he  promised  me  every  month  for  my  diversion  and  for 
giving  alms  to  the  poor  ;  and  also  your  Eminence  will 
not  forget  that  the  time  since  I  have  been  at  home, 
which  is  nearly  a  month,  ought  to  be  reckoned,  and  my 
sister  Marie  nearly  three.  I  should  be  grieved,  loving 
her  as  I  do,  were  she  to  have  no  share  in  your 
liberalities.  She  begs  to  be  honoured  by  your  re- 
membrance, since,  like  myself,  she  has  no  other  desire 
than  to  render  ourselves  worthy  of  the  quality  of 

"  Your  very  humble  and  obedient  niece  and  servant, 
who  loves  you  with  all  her  heart, 

"  HORTENSE    DE    MaNCINI." 

The  Cardinal,  through  the  Bishop  of  Coutances,  lost 
no  time  in  making  a  satisfactory  response  to  this  appeal, 
and  both  sisters  write  to  thank  him.  Here  are  their 
letters,  that  of  Marie  being  a  singularly  graceful  and 
charming  one  for  a  girl  only  thirteen  years  of  age  : — 

Marie  de  Mancini  to  Cardinal  Mazarin. 

"  This  9  July,  Couvent  de  la  Visitation, 
"  Faubourg  Saint- Jacques. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — I  lack  words  to  express  the  senti- 
ments of  respect  and  gratitude  that  I  have  for  the  kind- 
ness and  care  your  Eminence  has  for  us.  Monseigneur 
de  Coutances  has  just  given  us  fresh  proofs  of  it,  since 
he  has  assured  us  that  we  have  always  a  share  in  the 
honour   of  your    remembrance.     He    has    brought   us 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  47 

thirty  pistoles  [three  hundred  francs]  and  some  fans,  on 
behalf  of  your  Eminence  ;  and  what  has  transported  us 
with  admiration,  is  to  find  that,  in  the  midst  of  your 
important  occupations,  you  condescend  so  far  as  to  think 
of  matters  so  nearly  concerning  our  persons.  It  is  for 
me  a  powerful  incentive  to  study  to  perfect  myself,  and 
to  be  one  day  so  happy  as  to  give  you  cause  not  to 
disown  me. 

"  I  am,  etc." 

Horteme  de  Mancini  to  Cardinal  Mazarin. 

"  Sainte-Marie  de  la  Visitation. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — 1  am  transported  to  find  that  you 
have  done  your  little  Hortense  the  honour  to  think  of 
her.  Monseigneur  de  Coutances  will  be  able  to  express 
to  you  my  joy,  and  especially  when  he  gave  me  the  pre- 
sents on  your  behalf.  I  believed  tha'  it  was  true  what 
he  told  me,  that  you  always  love  me  a  little.  It  is  that 
which  makes  me  pray  to  God  with  all  my  heart  for  your 
Eminence,  that  you  may  have  the  kindness  to  continue 
that  favour.  That  God  may  preserve  you  in  health,  the 
while  I  shall  strive  to  do  everything  possible  not  to  be 
unworthy  of  the  quality  of  your  ....  etc.  .   .  ."^ 

Among  her  accomplishments,  Marie  now  numbered 
drawing,  and,  desirous  of  doing  everything  possible  to 
establish  herself  in  the  good  graces  of  her  all-powerful 
uncle,  she  conceived  the  idea  of  sending  him  for  his 
fete-day  a  portrait  of  Hortense,  which  she  had  recently 
finished. 

1  Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


48  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Marie  Mancini  to  Cardinal  Mazarin. 

"  1 8  August  1655. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — Sincc  iti  ten  days'  time  it  will  be  the 
festival  of  the  saint  whose  name  your  Eminence  bears, 
I  cannot  allow  it  to  pass  without  offering  to  your 
Eminence  this  little  portrait  of  my  fashioning.  I 
know  that  you  love  very  much  her  whom  it  represents, 
and  I  shall  esteem  myself  happy  if,  when  you  look  at  it, 
you  do  me  the  honour  to  remember  me,  and  to  believe 
that  we  shall  not  fail  to  offer  earnestly,  on  that  day,  our 
prayers  to  our  Lord  for  your  preservation,  having 
nothing  so  much  at  heart  as  to  prove  to  you  my  desire 
to  live  and  die  in  the  respect  and  obedience  which  I  owe 
to  you,  etc."  ^ 

Marie  had  been  an  inmate  of  the  Couvent  de  la 
Visitation  some  eighteen  months,  when,  one  day  in 
October  1655,  she  received  a  letter  from  the  Cardinal 
informing  her  that  she  was  to  leave  it  and  join  the 
Court,  which  was  then  at  La  Fere,  in  Picardy.  She 
travelled  thither  in  charge  of  Madame  de  Venel,  a  lady 
entirely  devoted  to  Mazarin's  interests,  who  became  a 
\\tt\Q.\2itcr  gouv  em  ante  to  his  three  younger  nieces,  heartily 
glad,  we  may  suppose,  to  exchange  the  dull  monotony 
of  the  convent  for  the  gaiety  and  bustle  of  Court  life, 
and  was  received  very  graciously  by  her  uncle. 

In  his  letter,  Mazarin  had  said  nothing  about  the 
motive  which  had  prompted  him  to  send  for  his  niece, 
which  was  a  matrimonial  one.  He  had,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  arranged,  or  believed  that  he  had  arranged,  a  mar- 
riage between  Marie  and  Armand  de  la  Porte,  only  son 
of  the  Marechal  de  la  Meilleraye. 

1  Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  49 

In  the  eyes  of  the  old  aristocracy  of  France,  the  La 
Portes  were  little  better  than  parvenus.  The  marshal 
himself,  though  a  relative  by  marriage  of  Richelieu, 
was  the  grandson  of  an  advocate,  while,  if  Saint-Simon 
is  to  be  believed,  the  founder  of  the  family  was  only  a 
humble  doorkeeper,  whence  came  the  name  of  La  Porte. 
Saint-Simon,  however,  as  is  well  known,  had  a  remarkably 
fertile  imagination,  particularly  where  persons  whom  he 
disliked  were  concerned.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
marshal,  by  methods  into  which  it  were  perhaps  in- 
discreet to  inquire  too  closely,  had  succeeded  in  amass- 
ing an  enormous  fortune,  and  had  obtained  permission 
to  hand  over  to  his  son  his  lucrative  post  of  Grand 
Master  of  the  Artillery,  as  well  as  his  governments. 
Altogether,  thought  his  Eminence,  poor,  plain  Marie 
might  consider  herself  an  exceedingly  fortunate  girl. 

But  the  Cardinal  and  the  marshal,  in  making  their 
calculations,  had  forgotten  one  unimportant  detail, 
namely,  to  assure  themselves  of  the  consent  of  the 
prospective  bridegroom.  The  latter  had  seen  Marie  and 
Hortense  at  the  time  of  their  first  appearance  at  Court, 
and,  while  he  had  scarcely  noticed  the  former,  had  fallen 
desperately  in  love  with  the  latter,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  she  was  then  barely  ten  years  old.  He  now 
flatly  declared  that  he  would  wed  Hortense  or  no  one  ; 
that  from  the  first  moment  he  had  seen  her,  he  had  loved 
her  with  such  devotion  that,  if  he  were  not  permitted  to 
marry  her,  he  would  retire  to  pass  the  rest  of  his  life  in 
a  convent.  And  one  day,  the  object  of  his  adoration 
tells  us,  he  confided  to  the  Duchesse  d'Aiguillon  that  so 
overmastering  was  the  passion  which  consumed  him  that 
"  provided  he  could  marry  Hortense,  he  cared  not  if  he 
died  three  months  later."  These  words,  the  writer 
adds,  were  duly  reported  to  the  Cardinal,  who,  indignant 


so  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

at  the  Grand  Master's  refusal  of  his  elder  niece's  hand, 
exclaimed  contemptuously,  "  I  would  rather  give  Hor- 
tense  to  a  lackey  than  allow  him  to  marry  her."^  How- 
ever, as  we  shall  see,  he  subsequently  came  to  view  the 
matter  in  a  different  light. 

In  the  winter,  the  Court  returned  to  Paris.  Marie 
was  not  a  little  afraid  that  after  this  manage  manque  she 
would  be  sent  back  to  the  convent.  But  her  uncle,  not 
a  little  impressed  by  the  girl's  intelligence,  had  resolved 
to  definitely  emancipate  her  and  she,  therefore,  returned 
to  her  mother  at  the  Louvre.  Shortly  afterwards, 
Hortense  also  quitted  the  Visitation,  and  was  taken 
charge  of  by  her  eldest  sister,  Madame  de  Mercceur, 
who  allowed  her  a  good  deal  of  liberty,  of  which  the 
young  lady  did  not  fail  to  take  the  fullest  advantage. 
Olympe,  as  the  eldest  unmarried  sister,  had  already  a 
separate  suite  of  apartments  of  her  own. 

Mazarin  could  afford  to  regard  the  failure  of  his  first 
attempt  to  establish  Marie  Mancini  in  life  with  com- 
parative equanimity,  since,  in  the  previous  summer, 
he  had  succeeded  in  arranging  a  brilliant  alliance  for 
another  of  his  nieces,  Laure  Martinozzi,  younger  sister 
of  the  Princesse  de  Conti,  who  was  then  sixteen,  a  little 
the  junior  of  her  cousin  Olympe  Mancini.  The  memoirs 
of  the  time  have  left  us  no  details  in  regard  to  the 
appearance  of  Laure  Martinozzi,  who  was  only  a 
bird  of  passage,  though,  as  an  anonymous  rhymester, 
whom  Amed6e  Ren6e  cites  in  his  *' Nieces  de  Mazarin," 
qualifies  her  as  a  "  Roman  beauty,"  it  is  probable 
that  she  did  not  want  for  attractions.  However, 
whether  she  was  beautiful  or  not,  she  resembled  her 
elder  sister  in  other  respects,  inasmuch  as  she  was 
^  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  51 

pious,  intelligent,  and  amiable;  and  when  Alfonso  d'Este, 
only  son  and  heir  of  the  reigning  Duke  of  Modena, 
demanded  her  hand  in  marriage,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  he — or  rather  his  agents,  since  he  married  her  by 
proxy  without  ever  having  seen  her — exercised  a  wise 
discretion  in  preferring  her  to  Olympe,  who  was  deeply 
mortified  at  being  passed  over.  Personal  considerations, 
however,  probably  counted  for  very  little  in  this  alliance. 
Modena  needed  the  support  of  France  against  Spain, 
which  was  then  pressing  with  all  her  weight  upon  the 
petty  sovereigns  of  Italy,  and  Duke  Francesco  I,  as 
capable  a  statesman  as  he  was  a  soldier,  perceived  that  an 
alliance  with  the  family  of  the  virtual  ruler  of  France 
would  assure  him  what  he  desired. 

The  marriage  was  celebrated  at  Compi^gne,  in  June 
1655,  Prince  Eugene  de  Savoie,  afterwards  the  husband 
of  Olympe  Mancini  and  the  father  of  the  celebrated 
commander,  acting  as  proxy  for  the  Prince  of  Modena 
in  the  gorgeous  ceremonial,  which  was  precisely  the  same 
in  all  respects  as  if  the  bride  had  been  a  daughter  of 
France. 

A  few  days  later,  the  young  princess  set  out  for  Italy, 
accompanied  by  her  mother  Madame  Martinozzi,  the 
Due  and  Duchesse  de  Noailles,  and  a  numerous  suite. 
Madame  Martinozzi  remained  for  some  time  at  Modena 
with  her  daughter,  and  then  returned  to  her  house  in 
Rome,  where  she  passed  the  rest  of  her  life. 

From  the  marriage  of  Laure  Martinozzi  and  Alfonso 
d'Este,  two  children  were  born  :  a  son,  who  succeeded 
his  father,  in  1662,  as  Duke  Francesco  II,  and  a  daughter, 
Marie  Beatrice,  who  married  James,  Duke  of  York, 
after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Anne  Hyde,  and 
became  Queen  of  England  and  mother  of  the  old 
Pretender,  so  that,  but  for  the  Revolution,  the  blood  of 


52  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Mazarin  might  have  continued  to  flow  in  our  sovereisrns* 
veins. 

During  the  minority  of  her  son,  the  Duchess  of 
Modena  acted  as  regent,  and  governed  her  little  State 
with  both  wisdom  and  firmness  ("  virile  donna,"  one  of 
her  biographers  calls  her),  in  politics  remaining  faithful 
to  France  and  Louis  XIV.  Afterwards  she  joined  her 
mother  in  Rome,  where  she  continued  to  reside  until 
her  death. 

The  Due  and  Duchesse  de  Noailles  had  been  entrusted 
by  Mazarin  with  another  mission,  besides  that  of  escort- 
ing the  Princess  of  Modena  to  her  future  home.  They 
were  charged  to  bring  from  Rome  the  little  Marianne 
Mancini,  the  youngest  of  the  five  sisters,  who  had  re- 
mained behind  in  that  city,  under  the  care  of  one  of  her 
aunts,  when  her  mother  set  out  for  France,  and,  with 
her,  her  little  brother  Alphonse.  On  their  homeward 
journey,  they  stopped  at  Modena,  where,  as  cousins  of 
the  new  princess,  they  were  received  with  great  cere- 
mony, and  an  address  presented  to  them  by  the  muni- 
cipal authorities,  to  which  Marianne  replied  with  much 
aplomb  in  a  jargon  of  her  own,  a  mixture  of  Italian  and 
French.  Although  only  six  years  old,  the  little  girl  was 
extraordinarily  precocious,  and  on  her  arrival  in  France, 
quickly  became  a  great  favourite  with  the  Cardinal  and 
the  Queen  and  the  pet  of  the  Court,  which  her  gaiety 
and  amusing  repartees  greatly  diverted.  His  Eminence, 
when  in  a  good  humour,  was  in  the  habit  of  playing  on 
the  child  singular  tricks.  Here  is  one  which  her  sister 
Hortense  relates  in  her  "  Memoires,"  and  which,  though 
somewhat  gai,  is  too  characteristic  of  the  morals  of  the 
time  to  be  omitted  : 

"Another  thing  which  afforded  us  much  diversion  at 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  53 

this  time  was  a  jest  which  the  Cardinal  played  upon  the 
future  Duchesse  de  Bouillon,  the  little  Marianne,  who 
was  then  six  years  old  ;  she  was  very  gay,  very  lively, 
and  used  to  make  repartees  far  in  advance  of  her  age. 
The  Queen  used  to  divert  herself  greatly  with  them,  as 
did  also  the  Cardinal,  who  permitted  himself  the  greatest 
liberties  with  her,  and  delighted  to  tease  her  more  than 
any  one.  The  Court  was  then  at  La  Fere.  One  day,  in 
the  Queen's  apartments,  Mazarin  amused  himself  by 
rallying  Marianne  on  some  gallantry  that  he  pretended 
that  she  had,  and  ended  by  reproaching  her  with  being 
with  child.  The  resentment  which  she  showed  diverted 
every  one  so  much  that  it  was  agreed  to  continue  to 
rally  her  about  it.  .  .  .  This  went  on  so  long  as  was 
thought  necessary  to  make  her  believe  the  thing  prob- 
able ;  yet  she  refused  to  believe  anything,  and  always 
defended  herself  with  a  great  deal  of  heat,  until,  one 
fine  morning,  she  found  between  her  sheets  a  little  child. 
You  cannot  imagine  the  astonishment  and  grief  she  was 
in  at  this  sight.  .  .  .  The  Queen  came  to  console  her, 
and  wanted  to  be  godmother,  and  all  the  Court  came  to 
congratulate  the  accouchk.  They  pressed  her  hard  to  tell 
them  the  name  of  the  father,  and  she  replied,  with  an 
air  of  mystery  :  *  It  can  be  no  one  but  the  King  or  the 
Comte  de  Guiche,  because  they  are  the  only  men  who 
have  ever  kissed  me.'"^ 

Such  were  the  pleasantries  of  the  time,  and  the  manner 
in  which  the  characters  of  young  girls  were  formed  ! 

Little  Marianne,  like  Marie,  lived  with  her  mother 
but,  whereas  Madame  Mancini  treated  the  child  with 
the  utmost  indulgence,  for  the  elder  sister  she  had 
nothing  but  harshness  and  severity.  "  My  mother," 
writes  Marie,  "  had  become  so  bad-tempered  that  she 
1  "  Memoires  de  la  Ducheusc  de  Mazarin." 


54  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

was  unbearable  ;  and,  as  I  was  the  least  loved  and  the 
only  one  exposed  to  her  ill-humour — my  sister  Olympe 
being  in  a  separate  apartment,  and  my  sister  Hortense 
being  with  Madame  de  Mercoeur,  under  the  care  of 
Madame  de  Venel,  who  brought  her  up  with  much 
kindness  and  tenderness — I  confess  that  1  passed  a  very 
unpleasant  time,  and  that  nothing  equalled  my  grief. 
To  increase  my  misery,  I  had,  for  my  only  retreat,  the 
worst  of  lodgings,  and  for  my  only  companion  an  old 
femme  de  chamhre  called  Rose,  who  had  brought  us  up, 
and  considered  myself,  besides,  as  being  on  the  eve  of 
entering  a  convent."^ 

The  habitual  harshness  of  her  mother,  indeed,  made 
so  great  an  impression  upon  the  sensitive  girl,  that  long 
after  Madame  Mancini's  death  had  freed  her  from  her 
thraldom,  and  she  had  become  one  of  the  divinities  of 
the  Court,  she  somehow  found  it  difficult  to  realise  that 
she  was  not  still  under  her  iron  rule. 

"  Education,"  she  writes,  "  is  the  richest  gift  that 
fathers  can  bestow  on  their  children  after  that  of  giving 
them  birth  ;  but  it  is  of  great  importance  that  it  should 
be  accompanied  by  kindness  :  too  great  severity  serving 
only  to  despoil  them  of  affection  ;  love  and  fear  being 
almost  always  incompatible.  This  was  my  own  ex- 
perience ;  for  even  after  my  mother  had  been  dead  two 
years,  my  imagination,  obsessed  by  the  fear  which  had 
remained  to  me,  represented  her  still  living  in  my 
thoughts,  and,  even  when  waking,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
I  saw  her,  and  that  thought  alone  occasioned  me  in- 
credible pain."^ 

Poor   Marie's  troubles  had,   however,  one  beneficial 
result.     The  pleasures  of  the  Court,  in  which  her  sisters 
freely  indulged,  being  interdicted  to  her  by  her  mother, 
1  "  La  Verite  dans  son  jour." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  5^ 

and  being  left  to  her  own  resources  almost  the  entire 
day,  she  sought  to  while  away  the  long,  lonely  hours  by 
reading,  and,  thanks  to  the  splendid  library  wherewith 
the  Cardinal  was  gradually  replacing  the  collection 
dispersed  in  1652,  she  had  no  lack  of  books.  She  read 
with  avidity  all  the  most  celebrated  French  and  Italian 
authors,  and,  with  her  wonderful  memory,  what  she  read 
was  seldom  forgotten.  Poetry,  and  in  particular  Ariosto, 
was  her  favourite  study,  but  she  did  not  neglect  more 
serious  subjects,  such  as  history,  politics,  and  philosophy. 
And  thus  it  came  about  that  this  little  Cinderella, 
neglected  and  misunderstood,  was,  at  an  age  when  most 
young  girls  of  to-day  are  still  in  the  schoolroom,  one  of 
the  most  cultured  women  of  her  time,  who,  when  at 
last  she  took  her  place  in  the  great  world,  did  not  fear 
to  converse  with  men  like  Lionne  and  Servien,  La 
Rochefoucauld,  and  Saint-Evremond. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1656,  Madame  Mancini 
fell  ill.  Her  malady,  the  nature  of  which  we  are  not 
told,  if  not  exactly  induced,  was  certainly  aggravated  by 
superstition.  She  was,  as  we  have  mentioned,  a  devout 
believer  in  astrology,  of  which  science  her  late  husband, 
Lorenzo  Mancini,  would  appear  to  have  been  a  singu- 
larly successful  exponent.  His  predictions,  according 
to  his  widow,  proved  almost  invariably  correct.  He 
had  predicted  the  death  of  their  son  Paul,  killed  in  the 
combat  of  the  Faubourg  Saint-Antoine,  and  also  his 
own  death,  on  the  very  day  on  which  it  had  occurred  ; 
and,  among  those  which  remained  to  be  fulfilled,  he  had 
predicted  that  she  herself  would  die  in  her  forty-second 
year,  which  she  had  but  partly  completed. 

During  her  illness,  which  was  not  at  first  considered 
serious,  the  King  did  her  the  honour  to  visit  her  every 
evening,  and  it  is  to  these  visits  that  may  be  traced  the 


S6  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

beginning  of  the  friendship  between  his  Majesty  and 
Marie  Mancini  which  was  to  cause  so  much  perturba- 
tion in  high  places  three  years  later. 

Madame  Mancini,  Marie  tells  us,  had  strictly  for- 
bidden her  daughter  to  enter  her  room  when  any 
visitors  happened  to  be  present.  But,  in  order  to  reach 
the  elder  lady's  apartment,  the  King  had  to  pass  through 
a  room  adjoining  that  of  Marie,  who  very  frequently 
contrived  to  enter  it  unobserved  about  the  time  at 
which  her  sovereign  might  be  expected  to  arrive. 
Louis,  on  his  part,  never  failed  to  stop  to  talk  to  the 
girl,  whose  lonely  life  he  could  not  help  pitying  ;  "  and 
these  few  minutes  of  conversation  sufficed  to  make  my 
sad  and  mournful  days  pass  more  quickly,  and  I 
returned  to  my  solitude  less  afflicted  than  before."^ 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  so  dreaded  by  Madame 
Mancini,  her  illness  took  a  turn  for  the  better,  and  she 
began  to  entertain  hopes  of  her  ultimate  recovery. 
However,  about  the  middle  of  December,  she  had  a  re- 
lapse, and  on  the  nineteenth  of  the  same  month  she  died, 
the  victim,  apparently,  partly  of  her  own  superstitious 
fears  and  partly  of  the  ignorance  of  the  surgeons  who 
had  attended  her,  and,  as  a  last  resource,  had  adminis- 
tered to  the  sick  woman  a  powerful  emetic. 

The  approach  of  death  did  not  effect  any  change  in 
her  feelings  towards  the  daughter  whom  she  had  always 
treated  with  so  much  harshness  and  injustice,  and 
almost  her  last  act  was  to  implore  the  Cardinal  to  send 
Marie  to  a  convent,  "  because  she  appeared  to  her  of  a 
bad  disposition,  and  because  her  husband,  a  famous 
astrologer,  had  predicted  that  she  would  be  the  cause  of 
much  evil."^ 

Madame  Mancini  was  buried  in  royal  state,  and  a 
1  "LaVerite   dans  son  jour."      2  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  Memoires." 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  57 

solemn  service,  celebrated  in  the  name  of  the  general 
assembly  of  the  clergy  of  France,  was  held  at  the 
Church  of  the  Augustins  for  the  repose  of  her  soul,  at 
which  the  Bishop  of  Montauban  preached  and  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  to  deliver  a  fulsome  eulogy 
of  Mazarin  and  his  family.  Her  death,  however, 
caused  no  interruption  in  the  gaieties  of  the  Court,  and 
the  same  ladies  who  in  the  morning  had  assisted  at  the 
funeral  service,  her  niece  the  Princesse  de  Conti  among 
them,  figured  in  the  evening  at  the  performance  of  the 
ballet  of  "I'Amour  malade,"  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
Louvre,  at  which  the  young  King,  who  represented  the 
languishing  god,  "  danced,"  says  the  Gazette  de  France^ 
"  with  so  much  grace  and  majesty  that  one  may  say  that 
never  had  one  seen  so  much  sweetness  and  charm  as 
in  the  person  of  this  great  prince." 

The  Duchesse  de  Mercoeur  was  on  the  eve  of  giving 
birth  to  her  third  child  when  Madame  Mancini  died. 
Although  deeply  affected  by  her  mother's  death,  nothing 
occurred  during  her  confinement  to  occasion  her  friends 
any  uneasiness  ;  but,  a  few  days  later,  "half  her  body  be- 
came suddenlyparalysed  and  she  lost  the  power  of  speech." 
The  Cardinal  was  sent  for  in  hot  haste  and  hurried  to 
his  niece's  bedside,  but,  being  reassured  by  the  doctors 
in  attendance,  returned  to  the  Louvre,  where  the  King 
was  again  dancing  in  the  ballet  of"  I'Amour  malade."  As 
he  was  leaving,  word  was  brought  him  that  Madame  de 
Mercoeur  was  much  worse.  Throwing  himself  into  the 
first  coach  he  could  find,  he  drove  at  full  speed  to  the 
Hotel  de  Vendome  ;  but,  on  reaching  the  sick-room,  he 
learned  that  the  duchess  was  dying,  and,  being  unable  to 
speak,  she  could  only  smile  at  him.  "  As  she  did  not 
suffer,"  says  Madame  de  Motteville,  "and  was  still  con- 


58  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

scions,  death  caused  in  her  none  of  those  terrible  changes 
which  it  makes  in  others.  A  beautiful  vermilion,  which 
the  fever  gave  her,  had  enhanced  her  natural  beauty. 
I  heard  those  who  saw  her  in  this  state  declare  that  she 
appeared  to  them  the  most  beautiful  woman  possible  to 
imagine,  and  her  beauty  increased  their  regret.  The 
Cardinal  was  so  affected  that  he  could  not  refrain  from 
giving  expression  to  his  grief,  and  the  sobs  he  uttered 
appeared  to  proceed  from  a  lively  emotion."  ^ 

The  valuable,  but  little-known,  "Memolres"  of  Daniel 
de  Cosnac,  who  was  present  at  Madame  de  Mercoeur's 
death,  contain  some  interesting  details  about  the  last  hours 
of  this  good  and  amiable  woman,  who,  firm  in  her  faith  and 
conscious  of  a  blameless  life,  had  a  smile  and  a  flash  of 
gaiety,  even  in  the  very  presence  of  the  King  of  Terrors. 

"  Ten  days  passed  without  her  experiencing  any  in- 
convenience. I  spent  part  of  these  ten  days  in  her 
chamber,  and  found  her  more  cheerful  than  she  had  been 
since  her  mother's  death.  I  rallied  her  on  her  delicate 
state  and  because  she  kept  her  bed  while  she  looked 
and  felt  so  well,  when  she  told  me  that  she  could  not 
rid  her  mind  of  a  thought  which  she  had  had  during 
her  confinement  :  it  was  that  she  would  never  leave  her 
bed  again.  I  laughed  at  this  apprehension,  and  Madame 
de  Venel,  her  dame  d'honneur^  being  in  her  room,  she 
began  to  speak  of  her  death  again,  laughing  the  while. 
Among  other  things,  she  said  that  when  she  died,  she 
would  not  be  able  to  refrain  from  laughing  at  the  grimace 
Madame  de  Venel  would  make.  I  found  her  so  well 
and  In  such  good  spirits  that  I  said  to  her,  *  Madame, 
to-morrow  you  must  dress,  and  we  will  dine  by  your 
fireside.  .  .  ."  At  noon  on  the  morrow,  I  came  to  the 
Hotel  de  Vendome.     As  I  was  mounting  the  steps,   I 

1  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  Memoires." 


From  a  contemporary  print 

LAURE    MANCINI,    DUCHESSK   DE    MERC(EUR 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  59 

was  told  that  Madame  was  very  ill.  All  that  she  had 
said  the  previous  day  returned  to  my  mind.  Having 
inquired  of  her  how  she  did,  she  answered  with  difficulty, 
and,  with  her  right  arm,  she  proceeded  to  raise  her  left, 
and,  showing  it  to  me,  told  me  that  she  could  feel  neither 
the  hand  nor  the  arm.  The  doctors  maintained  that  her  life 
was  in  no  danger.  .  .  .  But  she  was  overtaken  by  such 
drowsiness  that  they  began  to  fear  that  her  brain  was 
affiscted.  They  ordered  her  to  be  cupped,  which  was 
done  in  so  cruel  a  manner  that  the  poor  princess  cried 
out  in  a  way  that  pierced  one's  heart.  She  looked  at 
me,  as  if  to  implore  me  to  stop  them  tormenting  her 
thus.  This  lasted  all  day.  In  the  evening,  the  doctors 
began  to  change  their  tone.  The  Cardinal  came  himself 
to  administer  the  Sacraments.  She  appeared  so  beauti- 
ful in  this  sad  state  that  one  could  not  realise  that  she 
must  so  soon  die.  At  the  foot  of  the  bed  she  per- 
ceived Madame  de  Venel,  who  was  weeping.  The 
princess  noticed  her  grimaces  ;  she  turned  her  eyes  in 
my  direction,  and  when  they  encountered  mine,  she 
glanced  towards  Madame  de  Venel  and  began  to  smile, 
recollecting  without  doubt  what  she  had  said  to  me  the 
previous  day." 

The  Due  de  Mercoeur,  who  had  been  devotedly 
attached  to  his  wife,  was  prostrated  with  grief.  He 
retired  into  a  convent  of  the  Capuchins,  where  he 
remained  for  some  time.  Although  still  young,  he  did 
not  think  of  remarrying,  but  became  a  priest,  and  died 
a  cardinal  and  legate  of  the  Holy  See  in  France. 

By  his  marriage  with  Laure  Mancini,  the  duke  had 
three  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest  was  the  famous  soldier, 
Louis  Joseph,  Due  de  Vendome,  and  the  second, 
Philippe,  Grand  Prior  of  the  Order  of  Malta,  celebrated 
for  his  wit  and  debauchery. 


CHAPTER   IV 

Marriage  of  Olympe  Mancini  to  Prince  Eugene  de  Savoie,  Comte  de 
Soissons  —  Friendship  between  Olympe  and  Louis  XIV  —  His 
Majesty's  visit  to  the  Hotel  de  Soissons  —  Early  galanteries  of 
Louis  XIV — Olympe  and  la  Grande  Mademoiselle — Marie  Mancini 
takes  her  place  at  Court — Her  appearance — Growing  attachment 
between  her  and  the  King — Beneficial  results  of  her  influence  over 
Louis — Fatal  accident  to  Alphonse  Mancini — Mazarin's  grief  at  his 
nephew's  death — His  dislike  of  his  surviving  nephew,  Philippe 
Mancini — The  Comtesse  de  Soissons  and  Louis  XIV — Incident  at 
the  Marechale  de  I'Hopital's  ball — The  Court  follows  the  army — 
Louis  XIV's  visits  to  Turenne's  headquarters  at  Mardyck — Surrender 
of  Dunkerque — Dangerous  illness  of  the  King — Alarm  in  Paris — 
Colbert's  letter  to  Mazarin — The  King  recovers — Passionate  grief 
of  Marie  Mancini — Indifference  of  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons — The 
Court  at  Fontainebleau — Louis  XIV's  attentions  to  Marie. 


lyrADAME  DE  MERCCEUR  died  on  9  February 
'*■■*'  1657,  and,  ten  days  later,  the  second  of  the  Mancini 
sisters,  Olympe,  was  married  to  Prince  Eugene  de  Savoie, 
Comte  de  Soissons,  son  of  Prince  Thomas  de  Carignan- 
Savoie.  The  date  of  the  marriage  had  been  fixed  some 
time  before  the  death  of  Madame  de  Mercoeur,  and  the 
Cardinal,  who  always  feared  the  unexpected,  did  not 
wish  it  to  be  postponed.  It  was  a  brilliant  match  for 
Olympe.  Of  the  House  of  Savoy  by  his  father,  grand- 
son of  Charles  V  by  his  grandmother,  and  of  the  blood 
royal  of  France  by  his  mother,  Marie  de  Bourbon, 
daughter  of  Charles  de  Bourbon,  Comte  de  Soissons,  it 
would  have  been  difficult  to  find  a  husband  of  greater 
consideration  or  of  higher  birth.     Moreover,  Mazarin 

60 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  6i 

had  caused  the  title  of  Comte  de  Soissons  to  be  revived 
in  favour  of  his  new  nephew/  and  Olympe  thus  became 
the  wife  of  a  Prince  of  the  Blood,  and  was  called,  to 
distinguish  her,  Madame  la  Comtesse. 

The  marriage  contract  was  signed  on  19  February 
1657,  in  the  King's  apartments,  in  the  presence  of  their 
Majesties,  Monsieur^  the  Cardinal,  the  Princesses  de 
Conti  and  de  Carignan,  and  others. 

"  The  following  day,"  says  the  Gazette  de  France^ 
"  this  distinguished  company  repaired  to  the  Queen's 
apartments,  the  Comte  de  Soissons  escorting  his  be- 
trothed, who  was  dressed  in  a  gown  of  silver  cloth, 
with  a  bouquet  of  pearls  on  her  head,  valued  at  more 
than  50,000  livres,  and  so  many  jewels  that  their 
splendour,  joined  to  the  natural  eclat  of  her  beauty, 
caused  her  to  be  admired  by  every  one.  Immediately 
afterwards,  the  nuptials  were  celebrated  in  the  Queen's 
chapel.  Then  the  illustrious  pair,  after  dining  with  the 
Princesse  de  Carignan  in  the  apartments  of  Mile,  de 
Mancini,  ascended  to  those  of  his  Eminence,  where 
they  were  entertained  to  a  magnificent  supper,  at  which 
the  King  and  Monsieur  did  the  company  the  honour 
of  joining  them,  although  preparations  had  only  been 
made  for  members  of  the  family." 

The  two  following  days  were  devoted  by  the  bride  to 
receiving  the  visits  of  the  Court.  "  On  the  20th,  the 
Queen,  who,  on  this  occasion,  acted,  so  to  speak,  the 
part  of  mother  to  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  accompanied 
her  to  Notre-Dame  to  hear  Mass,  and  then  returned 
with  her  to  the  Louvre,  whither  came  her  mother-in- 
law,  the  Princesse  de  Carignan,  to  conduct  her  to  the 

^  The  last  Comte  de  Soissons  was  Louis  de  Bourbon,  brother  of  the 
Princesse  de  Carignan.  He  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  La  Marfee,  in 
1641,  and,  as  he  left  no  legitimate  issue,  the  title  had  become  extinct. 


62  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Hotel  de  Soissons,  and  testified  to  her,  by  her  joy  and 
the  rich  presents  which  she  made  her,  how  great  is  the 
satisfaction  with  which  she  regards  this  marriage.'* 

Olympe  was  also  well  satisfied  with  the  arrangement, 
notwithstanding  that  she  had,  at  one  time,  hoped  for  a 
higher  destiny — for  nothing  less  than  a  throne  ;  not  a 
ducal  one,  such  as  her  cousin  Laure  Martinozzi  shared, 
but  the  first  throne  in  Europe. 

Desirous  of  confining  the  royal  favour  as  far  as 
possible  to  himself  and  his  family,  Mazarin  had  from 
the  first  encouraged  the  intimacy  between  the  young 
King  and  his  elder  nieces,  which  had  begun  from  the 
time  of  the  arrival  of  the  latter  in  France.  It  was 
Olympe  to  whom  Louis  attached  himself.  Brought  up, 
so  to  speak,  with  the  King,  who  was  the  same  age  as  her- 
self, she  had  taken  more  share  than  her  sisters  or  cousin 
in  his  boyish  amusements,  and  the  preference  he  had 
always  shown  for  her  increased  as  he  grew  older. 
Olympe's  quickness  and  tact  were  remarkable  even  in 
her  childish  days.  Even  then  she  never  forgot  that  her 
playfellow  was  a  King,  whose  favour  was  to  be  won,  a 
possible  lover  whose  homage  was  to  be  secured,  and 
shaped  her  course  accordingly,  ever  ready  to  enter  into 
the  pursuits  of  the  young  sovereign,  to  divine  his 
tastes,  to  anticipate  his  wishes. 

Although  never  beautiful,  the  girl  improved  vastly 
in  appearance  as  the  years  went  by.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  Madame  de  Motteville,  who  had  drawn  so 
unflattering  a  portrait  of  her  on  her  arrival  in  France, 
thus  describes  her  :  "  Her  eyes  were  full  of  fire,  her 
complexion  had  become  beautiful,  her  face  less  thin,  her 
cheeks  took  dimples  which  gave  her  a  fresh  charm,  she 
had  fine  arms  and  beautiful  hands."  And  the  chronicler 
adds  :    "  She    certainly   seemed    charming    in    the    eyes 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  63 

of  the  King,  and  sufficiently  pretty  to  indifferent  spec- 
tators." 

The  attachment  of  the  King  for  Mile.  Olympe  soon 
became  an  affair  of  importance,  which  greatly  occupied 
both  Court  and  town.  People  began  to  ask  themselves 
whether  the  Cardinal,  who  did  not  find  even  Princes  of 
the  Blood  too  highly  placed  for  his  nieces,  and  who  had 
lately  married  one  to  the  heir-apparent  of  a  reigning 
duke,  would  set  any  bounds  to  his  ambition.  Mazarin, 
as  we  shall  presently  show,  had  very  different  matri- 
monial views  for  his  young  master  ;  but  he  certainly 
seems  to  have  looked  with  a  far  from  unfavourable  eye 
upon  Louis's  penchant  for  Olympe,  which  enabled  him 
to  keep  the  King  under  his  care,  and  ambitious  and 
possibly  hostile  beauties  at  a  distance  ;  and  his  star 
shone  with  such  brilliancy  just  then  that  Olympe  be- 
came the  divinity  of  the  Court,  and  every  one  hastened 
to  burn  incense  at  her  feet. 

Anne  of  Austria,  on  her  side,  regarded  her  son's 
attention  to  the  young  lady  with  complacency,  though 
Madame  de  Motteville  tells  us  that  she  could  not  en- 
dure to  hear  any  one  speak  of  the  affair  as  one  that 
might  perchance  become  legitimate.  "The  greatness  of 
her  soul  had  a  perfect  horror  of  such  abasement." 
Another  queen,  the  eccentric  Christina  of  Sweden,  who 
passed  through  France  in  1656,  was  of  a  different 
opinion,  and  declared  that  "  it  would  be  very  wrong 
not  to  let  two  young  people  so  admirably  suited  to  one 
another  marry  as  soon  as  possible." 

As  we  have  seen,  nothing  came  of  this  affair,  for 
Louis  showed  no  inclination  to  abase  himself,  and 
Olympe  soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that  her  best 
chance  of  obtaining  the  power  and  influence  she  coveted 
lay   in   some  less  illustrious   union.     Her   mortification 


64  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

was  Intense  at  seeing  her  cousins,  Anne-Marie  and 
Laure  MartinozzI,  preferred  by  the  Prince  de  Conti 
and  Alfonso  d'Este,  nor  was  it  lessened  when  the 
Marquis  de  la  Meilleraye,  to  whom  the  Cardinal  offered 
her,  as  he  had  previously  her  sister  Marie,  gravely 
assured  his  Eminence  that  he  wished  to  marry  '■^ pour 
faire  son  salut^''  and  that,  as  he  felt  an  inconceivable 
aversion  to  Olympe,  marriage  with  her  would  be  ^^juste- 
ment  le  grand  chemin  de  la  damnation'^ 

Compensation,  however,  for  these  disappointments 
was  forthcoming  in  her  union  with  the  Comte  de 
Soissons,  which  raised  her  to  the  rank  of  a  Princess 
of  the  Blood,  and  provided  her  with  an  indulgent 
husband,  who  adored  his  wife  when  he  was  at  home, 
and  whose  frequent  absences  with  the  army  gave  her 
ample  opportunity  for  enjoying  the  society  of  her 
admirers. 

Louis  XIV  did  not  testify  the  least  annoyance  at  the 
announcement  of  the  marriage,  and  his  cheerful  looks  at 
the  ceremony  caused  the  Queen  to  remark  to  Madame 
de  Motteville,  who  had  endeavoured  to  disquiet  her  on 
the  matter  :  "  Did  I  not  tell  you  that  there  was  nothing 
to  fear  from  this  liaison^ 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  perfect  indifference  shown 
by  the  King  at  the  moment  of  the  marriage,  he  con- 
tinued to  visit  the  lady  with  the  greatest  regularity  ; 
indeed,  scarcely  a  day  went  by  on  which  his  Majesty's 
coach  did  not  stop  at  the  gate  of  the  Hotel  de  Soissons ; 
and  Olympe,  basking  in  the  rays  of  the  royal  favour, 
rapidly  took  her  place  as  the  brilliant,  intriguing  great 
lady  that  Nature  intended  her  to  be. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  asked  of  what  character  were 
the  relations  between  the  King  and  countess.  We 
are  inclined   to    think    that    the   young    sovereign   was 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  65 

hardly  so  indiscreet  with  the  matron  as  he  had  been 
with  the  maid,  as,  from  the  confidences  of  contemporary 
writers,  it  would  appear  that  the  age  of  innocence  had 
passed  for  him. 

When  Louis  was  but  sixteen,  his  attention  was 
attracted  by  a  certain  Mile,  de  la  Motte  d'Argencourt, 
"who  had  neither  dazzling  beauty  nor  extraordinary 
intelligence,  but  whose  whole  person  was  agreeable." 
His  predilettion  for  her  society  became  so  very  marked 
that  the  Queen  and  Mazarin  grew  uneasy,  and  the 
former,  one  evening  when  Louis  had  conversed  with 
the  young  lady  rather  longer  than  she  deemed  prudent, 
rebuked  him  sharply  and  openly.  The  monarch  re- 
ceived the  maternal  reprimand  "  with  respect  and 
gentleness";  but  it  would  not  appear  to  have  had  much 
effect,  for,  shortly  afterwards,  we  hear  of  him  speaking 
to  Mile,  de  la  Motte  "  as  a  man  in  love,  who  was  no 
longer  virtuous,"  and  assuring  her  that,  if  she  would 
only  return  his  affection,  he  would  defy  both  the  Queen 
and  the  Cardinal.  The  lady,  however,  from  motives 
either  of  virtue  or  policy,  declined  to  entertain  his 
proposals,  and  the  Queen  having  pointed  out  to  her 
son  that  "  he  was  wandering  from  the  path  of  inno- 
cence," the  King  was  moved  to  tears,  confessed  himself 
in  his  oratory,  and  then  departed  for  Vincennes,  in  the 
hope  that  a  change  of  scene  might  assist  him  in 
subjugating  his  passion.  After  a  few  days'  absence,  he 
returned,  fully  determined  never  to  speak  to  Mile,  de  la 
Motte  again ;  but,  "  not  being  yet  wholly  strengthened," 
so  far  departed  from  his  resolution  as  to  dance  with  her 
at  a  ball,  with  the  result  that  he  was  on  the  point  of 
succumbing  once  more,  when  the  Queen  and  the 
Cardinal  put  an  end  to  the  affair  by  packing  the  damsel 
off  to  a  convent  at  Chaillot,  where,  Madame  de  Motte- 


66  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

ville  assures  us,  "  she  led  a  life  that  was  very  tranquil 
and  very  happy."  ^ 

The  Queen's  vigilance  was,  however,  powerless  to 
save  the  young  sovereign  from  the  wiles  of  the  intrigu- 
ing femyne  de  chambre,  Madame  de  Beauvais,  the  same 
lady  who  had  lent  herself  to  the  schemes  of  the  pre- 
sumptuous Jarze,  and  had  received  a  term  of  exile  for 
her  pains.  Madame  de  Beauvais,  called  by  her  royal 
mistress  "  Cateau  la  borgnesse"  was  very  far  from  being 
beautiful,  while  her  youth  was  only  a  memory  ;  but  she 
was  "  a  woman  of  experience,"  who  possessed  "  rhumeur 
galante  au  dernier  point''  \  and  she  had  the  distinction  of 
opening  that  famous  list  which  contains  the  names  of 
La  Valliere  and  Montespan. 

After  this  singular  debut,  the  monarch  addressed  the 
same  homage  to  '■^  une  petite  jardiniere,''  by  whom  he  had 
a  daughter,  who  was  brought  up  without  scandal  and 
married  secretly  to  a  gentleman  of  some  position. 
Then  we  hear  of  a  galanterie  with  the  beautiful  Duchesse 
de  Chatillon,  beloved  of  the  great  Cond6;  of  an  un- 
successful attack  upon  that  impregnable  fortress  of 
virtue,  the  Princesse  de  Conti  ;  and  of  an  equally 
abortive  attempt  to  woo  a  marvellous  young  beauty, 
Elisabeth  de  Tarneau  by  name,  "  who  had  the  prudence 
to  refuse  him  so  much  as  an  interview."  From  all  of 
which  it  will  be  gathered  that  the  French  ecclesiastic 
who  gravely  assured  the  Pope  that  Louis  at  twenty  was 
"  as  chaste  as  he  had  been  on  the  day  of  his  baptism," 
must  have  been  either  a  most  unblushing  prevaricator 
of  the  truth  or  singularly  ill-informed  in  regard  to  the 
doings  of  the  Court. 

To  judge  by  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons's  subsequent 
history,  she  was  not  the  kind  of  woman  to  be  over- 
1  "  Memoires  de  Madame  de  Motteville." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  67 

fastidious  as  to  the  means  she  employed  to  retain  in  her 
chains  this  illustrious  captive.  It  is  true  that  other 
chains  often  drew  him  away  ;  but  Olympe  knew  how 
to  make  the  most  of  her  good  fortune.  It  was  much 
that  the  King  remained  constant,  at  least  in  his  visits, 
and  left  her  all  the  prestige  of  favour. 

On  the  strength  of  this  favour,  the  young  lady  seems 
to  have  given  herself  intolerable  airs,  and  to  have 
treated  even  members  of  the  Royal  Family  with  the 
coolest  insolence.  La  Grande  Mademoiselle^  reconciled 
with  the  Court  in  the  early  summer  of  1657,  in- 
stalled herself  at  Saint-Cloud,  prior  to  rejoining  their 
Majesties,  who  were  then  in  Flanders.  Although  she 
had  been  so  long  absent  from  the  Court,  Mademoiselle 
was  well  informed  of  all  that  went  on  there,  and  was,  in 
consequence,  very  curious  to  see  the  lady  to  whom  the 
King  was  reported  to  be  paying  so  much  attention. 
Olympe,  being  then  enceinte,  had  been  compelled,  to  her 
intense  disgust,  to  remain  in  Paris,  and  was  in  a  very 
bad  humour  when  her  mother-in-law,  the  Princesse  de 
Carignan,  brought  her  to  visit  the  princess,  who  has  left 
us  the  following  account  of  their  interview  : — 

"*I  bring  you  my  daughter-in-law,'  said  Madame  de 
Carignan  to  me,  *  she  is  enceinte ;  she  came  in  a  litter.'  I 
went  to  receive  her  ;  Madame  de  Carignan  paid  me 
many  compliments.  As  for  her  daughter-in-law,  she 
said  nothing.  It  was  warm,  and  there  were  a  great  many 
people  about  me  ;  and  I  said  to  Mile,  de  Guise  and  to 
Madame  d'Epernon  :  *Pray  take  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons 
into  my  cabinet,  lest  she  should  be  incommoded  here, 
and  I  will  join  her  in  a  moment'  ;  which  they  did. 
Madame  de  Carignan  remained  with  the  rest  of  the  com- 

^  Anne  Marie  Louise  d'Orleans,  Duchesse  de  Montpensier,  eldest 
daughter  of  Gaston  d'Orleans  {Monsieur),  younger  brother  of  Louis  XIIL 


68  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

pany.  The  Comtesse  de  Soissons  was  for  a  long  time 
silent,  when  all  of  a  sudden  she  asked  me  :  *  Why  do 
you  not  wear  your  ruffles  like  other  people  ? '  I  told 
her  that  they  inconvenienced  me.  To  which  she 
answered  :  *  If  you  think  that  it  makes  your  arms  look 
more  beautiful,  you  are  mistaken.'  She  then  added  : 
*  My  mother-in-law  is  very  tiresome  ;  she  is  so  afraid 
that  I  shall  hurt  myself  that  she  follows  me  everywhere.' 
I  paid  her  a  thousand  compliments  on  the  obligations 
under  which  the  Cardinal  had  placed  me  ;  said  that  I 
loved  all  who  belonged  to  him  ;  that  her  marriage  had 
given  me  the  greatest  joy,  and  that  I  hoped  to  see  her 
often  and  to  be  friends  with  her.  To  all  of  which  she 
answered  me  not  a  word.  I  did  not  find  her  so  pretty 
as  I  had  been  told,  and,  when  I  looked  at  her,  I  could 
not  understand  how  the  King  had  ever  fallen  in  love 
with  her.  I  praised  her  very  much  in  every  way  ;  she 
received  it  all  with  an  indifference  and  in  a  silence  which 
astonished  every  one." 

The  mortification  of  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  at 
being  prevented  from  following  the  Court  to  Flanders, 
which  resulted  in  her  showing  such  a  peculiarly  unpleas- 
ing  side  of  her  character  to  Mademoiselle^  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  she  was  just  then  occupied  in  doing  her  utmost 
to  combat  Louis  XIV's  penchant  for  her  sister  Marie, 
and  feared  that,  during  her  enforced  absence  from  the 
field,  it  could  hardly  fail  to  make  material  progress. 

Soon  after  Olympe's  marriage,  the  Cardinal  had  per- 
mitted Marie  to  take  the  place  at  Court  of  which  her 
mother's  dislike  had  so  unjustly  deprived  her.  "The 
death  of  my  mother  and  the  marriage  of  my  sister 
Olympe,"  she  writes,  '*  having  rendered  me  more  inde- 
pendent, and,  enjoying  all  the  privileges  belonging  to 
the  right  of  the  eldest,  of  which  I  was  in  possession,  I 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  69 

passed  a  life  of  sufficient  tranquillity  and  began  to  taste 
its  sweets.  Contentment  of  mind  always  contributes  to 
the  favourable  development  of  the  body,  and  the  con- 
dition in  which  I  found  myself  at  that  time  was  a 
sufficiently  convincing  proof  of  it  for  me.  I  was  not 
recognisable,  and  I  am  able  to  say  that  prosperity  had 
been  of  as  much  advantage  to  my  mind  as  to  my  body, 
and  had  greatly  augmented  its  vivacity  and  gaiety."^ 

In  point  of  fact,  Marie's  appearance,  like  that  of 
Olympe,  had  already  improved  to  a  really  remarkable 
degree.  Her  features,  though  too  irregular  for  beauty, 
were  good  ;  she  had  large  and  brilliant  black  eyes, 
splendid  teeth,  and  a  delightful  smile  ;  while  the  ex- 
treme mobility  of  her  countenance  endowed  her  with  a 
singular  charm.  Her  complexion  was  of  the  purest 
olive  ;  her  hair  jet  black  and  abundant ;  her  figure  supple 
and  well  made,  and  she  had  very  pretty  hands  and  feet. 
In  a  word,  she  had  become  a  dangerously  attractive 
young  woman,  who,  without  ever  approaching  the  per- 
fect loveliness  of  her  sister  Hortense,  was  perhaps  more 
capable  of  inspiring  a  true  passion.  Louis  XIV  is  the 
proof  of  it.  His  liking  for  the  girl,  which  had  begun 
during  his  visits  to  her  dying  mother,  increased  rapidly 
now  that  her  participation  in  the  gaieties  of  the  Court 
threw  them  constantly  together,  and,  during  a  visit  to 
Fontainebleau  which  the  Court  paid  in  the  autumn  of 
1657,  it  became  apparent  to  all  that  this  liking  was 
gradually  developing  into  a  much  warmer  feeling. 

The  young  monarch,  as  we  have  related,  had  already 
made  several  excursions  into  the  realms  of  gallantry  ; 
but,  though  he  had  loved,  he  had  never  been  beloved, 
perhaps  because,  as  one  writer  suggests,  he  was  still  very 
timid  with  women  :  a  callow  youth,  who  blushed  and 
^  "  La  Vcrite  dans  son  jour." 


70  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

paled  when  a  pretty  girl  held  his  hand,  and  who  mingled 
with  unlawful  pleasures  floods  of  remorseful  tears.  The 
thought  that  he  had  at  last  excited  a  grande  passion^  one 
of  those  turbulent  emotions  which  he  felt  to  be  equally 
the  due  of  his  handsome  face  and  fine  figure  and  of  his 
exalted  position,  could  not  be  otherwise  than  soothing 
to  his  vanity.  He  began  to  pay  increased  attention  to 
Marie  Mancini,  and  the  more  he  saw  of  her,  the  more 
she  pleased  him.  He  spoke  to  her  "  avec  application^'' 
says  Madame  de  Motteville,  and  was  carried  away  like 
a  straw  before  the  hurricane. 

And  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Marie  loved  him — 
loved,  that  is  to  say,  the  man  apart  from  the  king.  The 
"  Memoires  "  of  her  sister  Hortense,  who,  it  goes  with- 
out saying,  was  her  confidante,  leaves  us  in  no  uncer- 
tainty on  this  point. 

"As  she  (Marie),"  she  writes,  "had  a  serious  attach- 
ment for  the  King,  she  would  have  been  very  glad  to 
see  me  affected  by  a  similar  weakness.  But  my  extreme 
youth  did  not  permit  me  to  attach  myself  to  anything, 
and  all  that  I  could  do  to  oblige  her  was  to  show  some 
particular  complaisance  towards  those  of  the  young 
people  we  saw  who  diverted  me  most  in  the  childish 
games  which  then  occupied  my  attention.  The  presence 
of  the  King,  who  seldom  stirred  from  our  lodging, 
often  interrupted  us.  Although  he  lived  among  us 
with  a  marvellous  kindness,  he  had  always  something 
so  serious  and  so  solid,  not  to  say  majestic,  in  all  his 
ways,  that  he  could  not  help  inspiring  us  with  respect, 
even  contrary  to  his  intention.  My  sister  alone  was 
undisturbed,  and  you  can  easily  understand  that  his 
assiduity  had  charms  for  her,  who  was  the  cause  of  it, 
because  it  had  none  for  others.  As  the  things  which 
passion  does  make  us  seem  ridiculous  to  those  who  have 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS        .         '    71 

never  known  what  that  passion  is,  my  sister's  exposed 
her  very  frequently  to  our  raillery."^ 

Soon  the  King's  predilection  for  Mile.  Marie's 
society  became  the  all-absorbing  topic  of  conversation, 
and  rumours  of  it  reached  Queen  Christina  of  Sweden, 
who  one  day  remarked,  in  her  blunt  way,  to  Louis  : 
"  If  I  were  in  your  place,  I  should  marry  a  person  whom 
I  loved."  ,  As  for  Marie,  if  she  had  not  been  already 
aware  of  the  growing  attachment  of  the  young  monarch, 
the  attention  of  the  courtiers,  and  particularly  of  the 
ladies,  towards  her  would  soon  have  revealed  it. 

Mazarin,  in  its  early  stages,  seems  to  have  viewed  the 
very  marked  inclination  of  the  King  for  his  niece  with 
complacency,  probably  regarding  the  affair  as  a  mere 
boy  and  girl  attachment,  and  even  lent  himself  to  it,  so 
far  as  to  provide  the  young  lady  with  a  number  of 
ravishing  toilettes,  which  enabled  her  to  more  than 
hold  her  own  in  the  Court  festivities.  The  Queen,  on 
her  part,  placed  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  her  son's 
attentions,  preferring  to  see  him  engaged  in  what  she 
imagined  to  be  a  harmless  flirtation  than  imperilling 
his  salvation  by  wearing  the  chains  of  the  Duchesse  de 
Chatillon  or  some  other  notorious  beauty. 

The  young  girl's  influence  over  her  royal  admirer 
increased  daily.  Olympe  had  shared  his  pleasures, 
accommodated  herself  to  his  tastes  ;  Marie  sought  and 
succeeded  in  inspiring  him  with  a  desire  to  share 
hers.  Although  skilled  in  all  bodily  exercises — horse- 
manship, dancing,  and  the  use  of  arms — Louis  XIV,  at 
the  age  of  twenty,  was  profoundly  ignorant.  His  mind 
was  one  which  required  stimulating,  and  no  one  had 
as  yet  taken  that  trouble.  The  germs  of  those  qualities 
which  made  a  great  monarch  of  a  man  of  mediocre  intel- 

^  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


72  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

lect  were  there,  but  these  germs  had  had  neither  light 
nor  air  to  expand.  "  Marie  Mancini  became  his  friend, 
and  it  was  like  an  irruption  of  the  sun  into  an  en- 
closed and  gloomy  spot.  He  learnt  and  understood 
more  in  six  months  than  he  had  since  he  came  into  the 
world. 

"  She  opened  to  him  the  world  of  heroes — heroes 
of  love,  heroes  of  constancy  and  self-sacrifice,  heroes  of 
glory.  She  revealed  to  him  the  sentiments  great  or 
subtle,  passionate  or  noble,  which  made  life  precious. 
She  reproached  him  with  his  ignorance,  and  constituted 
herself  his  preceptress,  teaching  him  Italian,  filling  his 
hands  with  poems,  romances,  and  tragedies,  reading  to 
him  herself  verse  and  prose,  in  an  amorous  voice,  with 
intonations  which  soothed  or  intoxicated  him.  She 
accustomed  him  to  serious  conversations  with  men  of 
age  and  merit,  excited  him  to  emulation,  and  aided  him 
to  acquire  nobility  and  correctness  of  expression.  To 
her  is  due  also  the  little  taste  for  the  arts  that  he 
possessed. 

"  He  owed  her  more  than  all  that.  She  made  him 
ashamed  of  being  without  ambition,  without  dreams 
either  worthy  or  unworthy,  without  desires  more  lofty 
than  the  choice  of  a  costume  or  a  pas  de  ballet — made 
him,  in  a  word,  remember  that  he  was  King,  and  gave 
him  the  idea  of  being  a  great  king.  He  never  forgot 
the  lesson."^ 

Louis,  who  had  loved  the  girl  at  first  because  she 
loved  him  and  Intended  that  he  should  reciprocate  her 
passion,  ended  by  loving  her  spontaneously,  from  a 
nobler  motive,  because  he  recognised  in  her  a  superior 
mind,  contact  with  which  opened  to  his  own  unknown 
horizons. 

1  ArvMe  Barine,  "  Princesses  et  grandes  dames  :  Marie  Mancini." 


!■  roin  an  engraving  alttr  tliu  drauing  hy  W  allerant  \aillant 
LOUIS   XIV 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  73 

The  close  of  the  year  1657,  was  marked  by  an  unto- 
ward event,  which  occasioned  Mazarin  profound  sorrow. 
His  youngest  nephew,  Alphonse  Mancini,  who  had 
arrived  in  France  at  the  same  time  as  his  little  sister 
Marianne,  had  been  sent,  like  his  brothers  Paul  and 
Philippe  before  him,  to  the  Jesuit  College  at  Clermont, 
from  which  glowing  accounts  as  to  his  progress  in  his 
studies  reached  the  gratified  Cardinal.  During  the 
Christmas  festivities,  he  was  playing  with  the  other 
scholars,  when,  tired  of  their  ordinary  games,  some  one 
suggested  that  they  should  toss  one  another  in  a  blanket. 
All  went  well  until  it  came  to  Alphonse's  turn  to 
undergo  that  not  over-pleasant  experience,  when  the 
little  Abbe  d'Harcourt,  who  was  very  weak,  allowed  the 
corner  of  the  blanket  he  held  to  slip  from  his  hand,  with 
the  result  that  Alphonse  fell  to  the  floor  and  fractured 
his  skull.  Four  surgeons  were  quickly  on  the  spot,  but 
all  their  skill  was  unavailing,  and  the  unhappy  lad  died 
on  16  January  1658.  "He  had  nearly  completed  his 
studies,"  says  Mademoiselle,  "  and  showed  remarkable 
intelligence.  He  was  un  esprit  vif,  and  the  Cardinal,  I 
have  heard  people  say,  had  entertained  such  great  hopes 
for  him  that  he  was  about  to  remove  him  from  college, 
and  intended  to  keep  him  near  his  person  and  accustom 
him  to  affairs,  to  have  him  to  sleep  in  his  own  chamber, 
speak  of  everything  before  him,  and  show  him  all  the 
despatches  that  he  received  and  wrote."  Mazarin  was 
in  despair  at  Alphonse's  death,  which  he  appears  to  have 
felt  even  more  keenly  than  that  of  his  brother  Paul. 
On  receiving  the  news  he  left  for  Vincennes,  where  he 
shut  himself  up  for  ten  days  and  refused  to  see  any  one. 

By  the  irony  of  fate,  Philippe  Mancini,  the  only 
nephew  who  now  remained  to  the  Cardinal,  was  precisely 
the  one  whom  Mazarin  could  not  endure,  and  for  whom 


74  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

he  always  evinced  the  greatest  aversion.  However,  if 
Philippe,  who  was  an  amiable  young  man,  though  some- 
what frivolous,  had  not  succeeded  in  gaining  his  uncle's 
favour,  he  had  won  the  affection  of  the  King,  who,  in 
January  1657,  appointed  him  captain  of  his  company 
of  Musketeers,  Charles  de  Baatz  de  Castelmore,  Comte 
d'Artagnan,  the  hero  of  Dumas's  immortal  romance, 
being  nominated  lieutenant  of  the  same  company,  in 
order  that  his  military  knowledge  might  supplement 
that  of  his  superior  officer. 

The  winter  of  1657-8  was  a  particularly  brilliant  one 
at  the  Court,  balls,  fetes,  and  ballets  following  one 
another  in  rapid  succession.  The  taste  which  the  King 
had  early  evinced  for  the  last  of  these  entertainments 
showed  no  sign  of  diminishing,  and  he  figured  in  nearly 
all  of  them,  together  with  Marie  Mancini.  At  the 
same  time,  his  Majesty  continued  to  visit  the  Hotel 
de  Soissons  and  to  pay  considerable  attention  to  its 
mistress  ;  probably,  he  feared  to  incur  that  lady's  resent- 
ment by  a  too  abrupt  desertion,  foreseeing  that  she 
might  prove  a  dangerous  enemy. 

The  countess,  on  her  side,  though  perfectly  well 
aware  that  her  younger  sister  had  already  supplanted 
her  in  the  royal  affections,  pretended  to  ignore  it,  and 
in  public  lost  no  opportunity  of  flaunting  her  intimacy 
with  his  Majesty.     Mademoiselle  writes  : — 

"  Madame  la  Marechale  de  I'Hopital  gave  a  ball,  to 
which  we  went  in  masks  and  dressed  in  gold  and  silver 
stuffs  and  caps  and  plumes  ;  the  men  wore  silk  stockings 
and  coats  covered  with  embroidery.  When  we  entered, 
we  wore  our  masks,  which,  however,  we  immediately 
removed.  .  .  .  We  repaired  to  a  room  magnificently  decor- 
ated for  refreshments,  but,  as  there  was  only  one  cover 
and   one  armchair,   the    King   said   to  me,    *  Sit  down 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  75 

there,  my  cousin  ;  it  is  your  place.'  I  cried  out  at 
that,  as  if  he  spoke  in  jest  ;  he  rejoined,  '  Who  will 
take  it  ? '  The  Comtesse  de  Soissons  smiled  and  said : 
'  I  will  sit  there.'  In  fact,  she  proceeded  to  take  it, 
although  Monsieur^  the  King's  brother,  said,  *  Do  not 
go  there.'  This  familiarity  with  the  King  surprised 
me,  for  it  was  not  so  before  I  left  the  Court.  All 
seated  themselves  at  table  ;  the  King  was  the  last  to  sit 
down,  saying,  as  he  did  so,  *  Since  there  is  no  other 
seat  but  this,  I  must  needs  take  it."  He  helped  himself 
to  no  dish  that  he  did  not  offer  to  others,  and  begged 
us  to  eat  with  him.  For  myself,  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  the  greatest  respect  for  etiquette,  all  this  astonished 
me  very  much,  and  it  was  long  before  I  could  accustom 
myself  to  it. 

"  On  my  preparing  to  leave,  the  King  said  to  the 
Comtesse  de  Soissons,  *  Let  us  take  my  cousin  home.' 
She  said  that  she  was  quite  willing.  We  set  off  at  full 
speed,  and  so  quickly  that  the  King's  Guards,  who  were 
on  horseback,  had  great  difficulty  in  keeping  up  with 
us.  The  streets  of  Paris  were  so  unsafe  at  night  at  this 
period,  that  the  King  said  gaily,  seeing  his  Guards  so 
far  behind  the  coach,  '  How  delighted  I  should  be  if 
robbers  would  attack  us  ! '  His  Majesty's  coach  was 
left  far  behind,  so  that  until  it  came  up,  we  walked  on 
the  terrace  in  the  court  of  the  Luxembourg,  the  3rd  of 
February,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  as  if  it  were 
the  month  of  July." 

In  the  course  of  that  winter,  Louis  XIV  had  a 
passing  fancy  for  a  certain  Mile,  de  la  Motte-Houdan- 
court,  whom  several  writers  confound  with  the  Mile,  de 
la  Motte  d'Argencourt  already  mentioned.  *  Nothing 
was  talked  of  but  this  new  friendship  of  the  King,"  says 
Mademoiselle;  "and  all  the  men  were  glad,  hoping  that 


76  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

it  would  make  him  more  gay."  The  Queen  and  the 
Cardinal,  however,  nipped  the  affair  in  the  bud.  "  The 
King  was  closeted  for  three  hours  with  her  Majesty 
and  his  Eminence,  and  at  the  break  up  of  the  conference 
took  no  more  notice  of  La  Motte." 

At  the  end  of  April  1658,  the  King  and  Queen 
quitted  Paris  and  proceeded  to  Amiens  ;  and  Turenne 
having  resolved  to  lay  siege  to  Dunkerque,  the  Court 
established  itself  at  Calais,  from  which  town  Louis  paid 
frequent  visits  to  Mardyck,  which  Turenne  had  made 
his  headquarters. 

On  these  visits,  the  King  was  only  accompanied  by  a 
small  escort,  and  did  not  bring  with  him  any  of  the 
comforts  and  luxuries  with  which  he  usually  travelled  ; 
but  shared  Turenne's  quarters,  though  that  general  was 
very  indifferently  lodged,  and  his  soldier's  fare.  Under 
ordinary  circumstances,  this  rough  life  might  have  had 
no  ill  effects  upon  his  Majesty  ;  but  summer  arrived 
with  almost  tropical  heat,  water  was  difficult  to  procure, 
while  the  decomposing  bodies  of  those  who  had  fallen 
in  the  campaign  of  the  previous  year  and  lay  but  half 
buried  in  the  sand,  tainted  the  air  and  rendered  the 
camp  a  perfect  plague-spot. 

On  23  June,  Turenne  having  defeated  the  relieving 
army  under  Conde  and  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  in  the 
Battle  of  the  Dunes,  Dunkerque  capitulated  ;  but  the 
rejoicings  over  this  success  did  not  last  long,  as  a  week 
later  Louis  XIV  fell  dangerously  ill  of  a  malignant 
fever,  the  result  of  the  hardships  he  had  voluntarily 
undergone  during  his  visits  to  the  army,  and  of  breath- 
ing for  entire  days  the  pestilential  air  of  Mardyck. 

For  a  fortnight,  the  young  King  was  in  great  danger, 
and  the  doctors  in  attendance  could  only  hold  out  very 
slight  hopes  of  his  recovery.     Paris  was  in  consterna- 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  77 

tion,  and  the  Holy  Sacrament  was  exposed  in  all  the 
churches  ;  while  the  proteges  of  Mazarin  were  in  the 
utmost  alarm,  fearing  that  Louis's  death  might  involve 
their  patron's  downfall. 

"We  are  in  the  gravest  anxiety  here  in  regard  to  the 
illness  of  the  King,"  writes  Colbert  to  the  Cardinal. 
"  M.  de  Langlade,  who  will  bring  this  note  to  your 
Emmence,  will  be  able  to  tell  you  the  bad  news  that 
reached  us  yesterday  evening.  God  grant  that  it  may 
not  be  true  !  But,  in  God's  name,  Monseigneur,  let 
your  Eminence  give  orders  to  some  one  to  despatch  a 
courier  daily  to  this  town,  as  I  am  of  the  opinion  of  all 
your  Eminence's  servants,  that  it  is  of  very  great  import- 
ance that  we  should  be  advised  every  moment  of  what 
is  happening  in  so  delicate  and  grave  a  matter.  If  the 
news  be  good,  we  shall  take  steps  to  make  it  public  ;  if 
it  be  bad,  we  shall  use  it  as  appears  to  us  most  ad- 
vantageous for  the  service  of  the  King  and  of  your 
Eminence."  ^ 

This  letter  was  written  on  7  July.  The  news  of  the 
following  day  was  very  grave  :  the  doctors  had  prac- 
tically abandoned  hope,  and  the  Viaticum  had  been 
administered  ;  and  the  houses  of  Colbert  and  other 
important  persons  who  were  believed  to  be  in  re- 
ceipt of  private  information  were  besieged  by  excited 
crowds. 

As  a  forlorn  hope,  a  doctor  from  Abbeville,  Du 
Saussois  by  name,  who  enjoyed  a  great  local  reputation, 
was  called  in,  and,  after  a  long  consultation  with  Vallot, 
first  physician  to  the  King,  it  was  decided  to  try  the 
effect  of  an  emetic  wine,  a  remedy  then  but  little  known. 
The  experiment  was  attended  with  complete  success  ;  in 
a  few  days  the  royal  patient  was  declared  out  of  danger, 

1  Letter  ci:cd  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


78  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

and  on  22  July  was  so  far  recovered  as  to  allow  of  his 
being  removed  to  Compiegne  by  easy  stages. 

One  can  well  imagine  the  varied  feelings  which 
animated  the  Court  during  that  fortnight  of  anxious 
suspense,  while  the  King's  life  and  all  that  depended 
upon  it  trembled  in  the  balance  :  the  anguish  of  the 
Queen  ;  the  feverish  anxiety  of  Mazarin,  divided  be- 
tween grief  for  the  master  to  whom  he  was  tenderly 
attached  and  fears  for  his  own  position  in  the  event  of 
the  illness  having  a  fatal  termination  ;  the  ill-concealed 
joy  of  the  personal  friends  of  Monsieur ;  the  painful 
uncertainty  of  those  who  knew  not  whether  to  weep  for 
the  declining  or  to  pay  court  to  the  rising  sun.  To  few 
indeed,  we  fear,  save  the  devoted  mother,  did  the 
thought  of  the  premature  death  of  the  young  prince 
occasion  a  genuine  and  disinterested  grief ;  but,  among 
these  last,  no  one  was  so  much  remarked  as  Marie 
Mancini,  who,  unable  to  conceal  or  to  moderate  her 
feelings,  gave  way  to  a  despair  which  was  the  talk  of  the 
whole  Court.  "  Marie,"  writes  Madame  de  la  Fayette, 
"  had  testified  an  affection  so  violent,  and  had  so  little  con- 
cealed it,  that  when  he  grew  better  every  one  spoke  to 
him  of  the  grief  of  Mile,  de  Mancini,  and  perhaps  in 
the  sequel  she  spoke  of  it  to  him  herself.  In  short,  she 
gave  proof  of  so  much  passion,  and  broke  through  so 
completely  the  restraints  which  the  Queen-Mother  and 
the  Cardinal  imposed  upon  her,  that  one  may  say  that 
she  constrained  the  King  to  love  her."^ 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  passionate  grief  of  Marie, 
her  sister  Madame  de  Soissons  evinced  the  most  pro- 
found indifference  during  the  King's  illness.  "  She  did 
not  show  the  regret  that  one  would  have  expected  of 
her,"    says    Mademoiselle^    "  in    view    of  the    friendship 

1   "  Histoire  de  Madame  Heuriette  d'Angleterre." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  79 

that  the  King  had  shown  for  her.  The  Queen  said  to 
her  one  day,  '  Every  time  I  see  you,  I  desire  to  weep  ; 
you  make  me  think  of  my  grief.'  She  made  no  reply 
whatever,  but  turned  and  inquired  of  those  who  were 
with  her,  *  What  did  the  Queen  say  ? '  " 

In  the  early  autumn,  the  Court  removed  from  Com- 
piegne  to  Fontainebleau,  where,  as  is  so  often  the 
case  with  persons  who  have  recently  passed  through 
a  dangerous  illness,  Louis  XIV  gave  himself  up  with 
whole-hearted  zest  to  every  kind  of  pleasure,  and  gaiety 
reigned  supreme.  There  were  balls  and  fetes,  perform- 
ances by  the  French  and  Italian  players,  excursions  by 
water,  and  picnics  in  the  forest.  On  one  occasion. 
Monsieur  gave  a  "  collation,"  at  the  hermitage  ot 
Franchard,  whither  the  whole  Court  proceeded  on 
horseback  and  in  gala  dress.  The  King,  who  was  in 
high  spirits,  took  into  his  head  to  ascend  the  rocks 
which  surrounded  the  hermitage — "  the  most  incon- 
venient possible  to  imagine,"  says  Mademoiselle,  "  and 
where  you  would  have  supposed  only  goats  could  ever 
have  been  before."  He  was  accompanied  in  this  perilous 
adventure  by  Marie  Mancini,  while  the  Marquis 
d'Alluye  lent  his  assistance  to  Marie's  friend.  Mile, 
du  Fouilloux.  On  reaching  the  summit,  Louis,  in 
a  spirit  of  mischief,  sent  orders  to  the  rest  of  the  party, 
who  had  remained  in  the  garden  of  the  hermitage, 
to  follow  him,  preceded  by  a  band  of  violin  players, 
which  Monsieur  had  provided  for  the  entertainment 
of  his  guests.  We  were  obliged  to  obey,"  continues 
Mademoiselle,  "  though  it  was  not  without  difficulty ; 
and  we  no  sooner  resolved  to  venture  than  we  found 
ourselves  obliged  to  return.  I  am  surprised  that  no 
one  was  hurt,  for  we  ran  the  greatest  risk  of  having  our 


8o  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

arms  and  legs  broken,  and  even  of  fracturing  our  skulls. 
I  think  that  the  prayers  of  the  good  hermit  must  have 
preserved  us.  After  supper,  we  returned  en  caleche^ 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  men  bearing  torches,  and, 
on  our  arrival,  went  to  the  play." 

During  the  visit  to  Fontainebleau,  the  intimacy 
between  Louis  XIV  and  Marie  Mancini  made  rapid 
progress  :  and,  if  Marie  had  had  to  wait  longer 
than  her  sisters  for  her  share  of  the  good  things  of  life, 
she  was  now  abundantly  compensated.  Neither  the 
Queen  nor  the  Cardinal  placed  any  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  her  enjoyment  of  the  society  of  her  royal  admirer, 
although  the  jealous  Comtesse  de  Soissons  complained 
bitterly  to  her  uncle  of  Louis's  predilection  for  her 
younger  sister.  But  Mazarin  still  believed,  or  more 
probably  feigned  to  believe,  that  the  affair  was  of  no 
consequence,  and  made  no  attempt  to  interfere.  From 
Marie's  "  Memoires,"  however,  it  is  evident  that  his 
Majesty's  passion  was  now  approaching  a  high  tempera- 
ture, and  that  the  fact  was  patent  not  only  to  herself,  but 
to  the  whole  Court. 

"  The  King's  kindness  was  so  great,  that  we  lived  on 
terms  of  familiarity  with  both  him  and  Monsieur^  and, 
since  this  familiarity  permitted  me  to  say  what  I  thought 
with  a  certain  degree  of  freedom,  perhaps  1  said  it  with 
some  agreeableness.  I  continued  still  to  do  the  same 
during  a  visit  that  the  Court  paid  to  Fontainebleau  (for 
we  followed  it  everywhere),  and,  on  my  return  from  this 
visit,  I  perceived  that  I  did  not  displease  the  King,  as 
I  had  already  sufficient  knowledge  to  understand  that 
eloquent  silence  which  often  persuades  more  than  all  the 
fine  speeches  in  the  world.  Perhaps,  also,  the  penchant 
and  the  inclination  that  I  had  for  his  Majesty,  in 
whom  I  recognised  more  merit  than  in  any  one  in  his 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  8i 

realm,  rendered  me  more  intelligent  in  this  matter  than 
I  had  been  on  another  occasion. 

"However,  the  testimony  of  my  eyes  was  not  enough 
to  cause  me  to  believe  a  matter  of  this  consequence  ; 
but  the  courtiers,  who  are  as  so  many  eyes  which  watch 
over  the  actions  of  kings,  perceiving  also,  as  well  as 
myself,  his  Majesty's  inclination,  speedily  confirmed 
me  in  the  opinion  that  I  had  formed  by  their  extra- 
ordinary respect  and  deference.  And  the  attentions  of 
the  King,  the  magnificent  presents  which  I  received,  his 
care,  his  empressements,  and  the  kindness  that  he  showed 
for  me  in  all  things,  soon  ended  by  persuading  me 
altogether."^ 

On  the  return  of  the  Court  to  Paris,  it  was  remarked 
that  the  King  did  not  resume  his  accustomed  visits  to 
the  Hotel  de  Soissons  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  not 
an  evening  passed  on  which  he  did  not  engage  the 
younger  sister  in  conversation,  his  manner  on  these 
occasions  partaking  far  more  of  that  of  the  lover  than 
of  the  gracious  sovereign.  An  event  of  the  highest 
importance,  however,  now  arrived  to  interrupt  what 
that  young  lady  calls  her  "  ravishing  prosperity." 

^  "  La  Verite  dans  son  jour." 


CHAPTER   V 

Mazarin's  project  of  marrying  Louis  XIV  to  the  Infanta  Maria  Theresa 
— Negotiations  between  France  and  Savoy  in  regard  to  the  King's 
marriage  with  the  Princess  Margherita — The  Cardinal  arranges  a 
meeting  between  the  two  Courts  at  Lyons — His  object — Departure 
of  their  Majesties  and  the  Court  for  Lyons — "The  King  always 
near  Mile,  de  Mancini " — He  ignores  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons — 
Incident  at  Dijon — Arrival  at  Lyons — Meeting  between  Louis  XIV 
and  the  Princess  Margherita — Empress ement  oi  the  King — Arrival  of 
a  secret  envoy  from  Spain  with  an  offer  of  peace  and  the  Infanta's 
hand  —  Conversation  between  Louis  XIV  and  Marie  Mancini  — 
Sudden  change  in  the  King's  attitude  towards  the  Princess  Margherita 
— The  Duke  of  Savoy  and  Hortense  Mancini — Rupture  of  the 
marriage  negotiations  with  Savoy — The  Princess  Margherita  and  her 
mother  leave  Lyons — Marie  Mancini  makes  a  great  resolve — Intimacy 
between  her  and  Louis  XIV  at  Lyons — A  watchful  gouvernante — 
The  Court  returns  to  Paris. 

T70R  more  than  fifteen  years,  and  through  many  strange 
vicissitudes,  Mazarin  had  steadily  pursued  the  pro- 
ject of  marrying  Louis  to  the  Infanta  Maria  Theresa  of 
Spain.  His  object  for  desiring  this  union  was  twofold. 
In  the  first  place,  a  closer  connexion  between  France  and 
Spain  would  leave  the  Emperor  isolated  in  Europe  and 
render  him  practically  impotent.  In  the  second,  it  was 
more  than  possible  that  it  might,  sooner  or  later,  be 
the  means  of  giving  the  crown  of  Spain  to  the  House 
of  Bourbon,  for,  as  his  letters  to  the  French  plenipoten- 
tiaries at  the  Congress  of  Westphalia  indicate,  the  astute 
Cardinal  had  resolved  to  so  frame  the  marriage-contract 
that  there  would   be  little  difficulty  in  contesting  the 

82 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  83 

validity  of  any  renunciation  of  her  rights  on  the  part 
of  the  Infanta.^ 

Since  1648,  when  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  was  con- 
cluded with  the  Emperor,  more  than  one  attempt  had 
been  made  to  conclude  peace  on  the  basis  of  another 
Franco-Spanish  marriage.  But,  as  Philip  IV  had  no 
male  issue,  and  the  Infanta  would,  in  consequence, 
have  carried'  with  her  to  France  the  right  of  succession 
to  the  crown  of  Spain,  the  Court  of  Madrid  had 
hitherto  received  the  Cardinal's  proposals  with  marked 
coldness. 

Of  late,  however,  the  situation  had  been  materially 
modified.  In  1657,  the  Queen  of  Spain  had  given 
birth  to  a  son,  an  event  which  placed  two  lives  be- 
tween the  Infanta  and  the  throne,  and  very  sensibly 
diminished  that  princess's  matrimonial  value  ;  while 
France  had  gained  great  advantage  in  the  field,  and  it 
was  becoming  increasingly  difficult  for  Spain,  with  troops 
disheartened  by  defeat  and  an  impoverished  Treasury, 
to  continue  the  struggle. 

Indirect  negotiations  were  accordingly  opened,  but  as 
the  Court  of  Madrid  showed  its  customary  vacillation, 
Mazarin  resolved  on  a  very  adroit  manoeuvre,  with  the 
object  of  forcing  it  to  come  to  a  decision. 

For  some  time  past  both  France  and  Spain  had  been 
making  great  efforts  to  secure  the  alliance  of  Savoy,  a 
State  which  had  been  originally  on  the  side  of  France, 
but  had  now  for  many  years  maintained  a  strict  neutra- 
lity. Savoy  was  then  governed  by  Christine  de  France, 
second  daughter  of  Henry  IV,  and  widow  of  Victor 
Amadeus  I,  who,  on  the  death  of  her  husband  in  1637, 

^  Mr.  J.  B.  Perkins,  "  France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin." 


84  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

had  been  declared  Regent  and  guardian  of  her  son, 
Charles  Emmanuel  II,  and  her  three  daughters.^ 

The  Duchess,  a  shrewd  and  sagacious  woman,  a  worthy 
daughter  of  Henry  IV,  at  first  declined  to  commit  her- 
self to  either  side.  When  pressed  by  Mazarin,  however, 
she  finally  replied  that  she  would  take  the  part  of 
France,  on  condition  of  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIV  to 
her  second  daughter  Margherita.  The  Cardinal  did  not 
see  his  way  to  satisfy  her  in  this  matter,  having  more 
exalted  views  for  his  young  master  ;  but  after  the  Battle 
of  the  Dunes,  with  Flanders  half  conquered  and  the 
Milanese  greatly  weakened  by  the  capture  of  Valenza 
and  Mortara,  he  was  naturally  reluctant  to  pause  in  his 
triumphant  career,  and,  since  he  was  unable  to  push  his 
conquests  in  Italy  without  a  passage  for  French  troops 
through  Piedmont  and  the  assistance  of  Savoy,  he  deter- 
mined, in  the  event  of  a  definite  refusal  from  Madrid  of 
the  Infanta's  hand,  and  the  consequent  prolongation  of 
the  war,  to  agree  to  the  Duchess's  terms.  He,  therefore, 
accepted  the  project  of  marriage,  but  under  the  reserva- 
tion that  no  definite  decision  should  be  arrived  at  until 
Louis  XIV  had  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
Princess  Margherita  ;  and  he  requested  the  Duchess  to 
bring  her  daughter  to  Lyons,  the  place  which  he  had 
selected  for  the  interview.  Christine  readily  accepted 
this  proposition,  and  the  end  of  November  1658  was 
fixed  for  the  meeting  of  the  two  Courts. 

No  secrecy  whatever  was  made  of  the  proposed  meet- 
ing, Mazarin  hoping  that  so  soon  as  the  news  reached 
Madrid,  Philip  IV  would  hasten  to  intervene  with  an 
offer  of  his  daughter's  hand,  when,  of  course,  he  intended 

1  Charles  Emmanuel  II  had  been  declared  of  age  in  June  164.8,  but 
his  mother  continued  to  keep  the  authority  in  her  hands  down  to  the  time 
of  her  death,  27  December  1663. 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  85 

to  break  off  immediately  all  negotiations  with  Savoy. 
It  was  a  masterly  move,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  was  attended 
with  complete  success. 

When  this  journey  to  Lyons  was  first  mooted,  Louis 
XIV  had  decided  to  proceed  thither  accompanied  only 
by  the  Cardinal  and  his  gentlemen-in-ordinary,  leaving 
the  Queen  and  the  rest  of  the  Court  in  Paris.  Subse- 
quently, however,  he  begged  his  mother  to  accompany 
him,  declaring  that  he  did  not  like  to  part  from  her  for 
even  a  brief  period,  and  that  her  assistance  was  essential 
to  enable  him  to  arrive  at  a  decision  on  a  matter  of  such 
importance.  The  Queen  consented  willingly  enough, 
and  determined  to  take  with  her  Mademoiselle^  all  her 
maids-of-honour,  and  the  Cardinal's  nieces,  who  always 
formed  part  of  her  entourage. 

In  the  opinion  of  Marie  Mancini's  latest  biographer, 
Lucien  Percy,  it  was  that  young  lady  who  had  in- 
duced the  King  to  make  this  alteration  in  his  plans, 
knowing  that,  in  the  event  of  the  Queen  going  to 
Lyons,  she  would  accompany  her,  and  would  thus  be  in 
a  position  to  bring  all  her  influence  to  bear  upon  Louis 
to  prevent  him  deciding  in  favour  of  the  Princess 
Margherita. 

It  is  very  probable  that  a  similar  idea  had  occurred  to 
Mazarin.  The  Cardinal  could  no  longer  pretend  to  be 
ignorant  of  Louis's  attachment  to  his  niece,  but  as  yet 
he  had  not  judged  it  necessary  to  interfere.  Underrating 
the  independence  and  obstinacy  of  the  girl's  character, 
he  hoped  to  find  in  her  a  useful  instrument,  who,  if 
occasion  arose,  would  endeavour  to  influence  the  King's 
mind  in  the  direction  which  he  himself  thought  desirable. 
It  would  certainly  be  extremely  vexatious  if,  when 
Philip  IV,  as  he  confidently  expected  him  to  do,  should 
ofi^er  his  daughter's  hand  and  peace  along  with  it,  Louis 


86  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

should  have  fallen  in  love  with  the  Princess  Margherita 
and  insist  upon  marrying  her.  In  that  eventuality,  he 
might  count  upon  Marie  to  save  the  situation. 

On  26  October,  the  King  and  Queen,  after  hearing 
Mass  at  Notre-Dame,  set  out  for  Lyons,  accompanied  by 
a  numerous  and  brilliant  suite.  During  the  first  day's 
journey,  his  Majesty  remained  in  his  coach  with  his 
mother,  Mademoiselle^  and  the  Princess  Palatine,^  the 
surintendante  of  the  Queen's  household.  But  on  the 
morrow,  as  the  weather  was  fine,  he  suggested  to 
Mademoiselle  that  it  would  be  more  pleasant  on  horse- 
back. "  Mile,  de  Mancini,  some  of  the  Queen's  ladies, 
and  myself  did  as  he  proposed.  The  King  was  always 
near  Mile,  de  Mancini,  with  whom  he  conversed  in  a 
most  gallant  manner."^ 

The  journey  resembled  an  ofiicial  progress.  Some 
leagues  from  every  town  of  importance  the  royal  cortege 
was  met  by  the  gentry  of  the  neighbourhood  dressed  in 
their  bravest  attire,  who  escorted  it  as  far  as  the  gates, 
where  the  magistrates  and  citizens  waited  to  receive 
their  young  sovereign,  whom  few  of  them  had  ever  seen, 
and  who,  after  running  so  many  risks  during  the  Fronde, 
had  but  lately  had  so  narrow  an  escape  from  death. 
Everywhere  the  utmost  enthusiasm  prevailed  ;  on  all 
sides  nothing  was  heard  but  praises  of  the  young 
monarch  ;  his  handsome  face,  his  fine  figure,  the  skill 
with  which  he  managed  his  high-spirited  horse,  the  grace 
with  which  he  acknowledged  the  salutations  of  his  loyal 
subjects — all  delighted  the  crowds  who  flocked  to  do 
him  homage. 

^  Anne  de  Gonzague,  second  daughter  of  Charles  de  Gonzague,  Due 
de  Nevers,  and  wife  of  Prince  Edward  of  Bavaria,  "  Count  Palatine," 
fourth  son  of  Frederick.  V,  Elector  Palatine.  She  must  not  be  con- 
fused with  her  niece,  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  the  second  wife  of  Monsieur. 

2   "  Menioires  de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  87 

At  Dijon,  where,  on  his  arrival,  the  King  was  met  by- 
all  the  noblesse  of  Burgundy,  with  the  Due  d'Epernon, 
the  governor  of  the  province,  at  their  head — the  Court 
remained  for  a  fortnight.  The  States  of  Burgundy 
were  at  that  time  sitting,  and  Mazarin  hoped  that  the 
presence  of  their  sovereign  would  serve  as  a  spur  to 
their  loyalty,  and  induce  them  to  vote  larger  subsidies 
than  was  their  custom. 

The  King  was  in  the  highest  spirits.  He  danced 
every  evening,  and  all  the  principal  people  in  the 
province,  and  even  in  the  town,  Mademoiselle  tells  us, 
came  to  watch  him.  Every  evening,  too,  he  ordered  a 
grand  collation  in  lieu  of  supper,  thanks  to  which 
arrangement  he  did  not  sup  with  the  Queen,  but 
remained  "  four  or  five  hours  talking  with  Mile,  de 
Mancini."  On  the  other  hand,  the  poor  Comtesse  de 
Soissons  was  entirely  ignored  by  her  former  admirer, 
and  in  a  manner  so  pointed  as  to  suggest  that  she  had 
contrived  to  displease  seriously  his  Majesty,  presumably 
by  complaining  to  the  Cardinal  about  his  intimacy  with 
her  sister. 

"During  the  journey,"  writes  Mademoiselle^  "the  King 
did  not  address  a  word  to  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons, 
and  at  Dijon  it  was  the  same.  One  day,  he  did  some- 
thing which  was  remarked  by  all,  although  a  mere  baga- 
telle. During  a  collation,  the  Queen  sent  to  him  to  ask 
for  some  rissoles,  and  I  made  the  same  request.  He 
sent  some  to  the  Queen,  with  whom  the  Comtesse  de 
Soissons  was  supping,  but  finding  them  insufiicient,  she 
sent  to  ask  for  more.  The  King  then  sent  word  that  he 
had  enough  for  her  and  for  me,  but  that  there  were  not 
enough  left  for  himself  and  his  company.  Every  one 
believed  that  this  was  intended  to  apply  to  the  Comtesse 
de  Soissons." 


88  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Before  the  Court  quitted  Dijon,  the  fine  weather 
with  which  it  had  been  favoured  since  leaving  Paris  had 
broken  up  ;  notwithstanding  which,  Louis  XIV  still 
continued  to  perform  the  greater  part  of  each  day's 
journey  on  horseback.  The  cold  and  rain  had  driven 
Mademoiselle  and  most  of  the  fair  equestrians  to  the 
shelter  of  the  coaches  ;  but  Marie  Mancini  braved  the 
elements  and  remained  his  Majesty's  inseparable  com- 
panion as  far  as  Lyons,  which  was  reached  on  Monday, 
28  November. 

Next  morning,  the  Queen  received  warning  that 
Madame  Royale — as  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  was  called 
in  France — and  her  daughter  would  reach  Lyons  on  the 
following  Friday,  2  December.  Their  Majesties,  the 
Cardinal,  Monsieur,  and  Mademoiselle  went  forward  to 
meet  their  guests.  Made?noiselle  rode  in  the  royal 
coach,  an  honour  which  was  also  accorded  to  Marechal 
de  Villeroi,  the  governor  of  the  Lyonnais.  Grooms 
followed  leading  the  gentlemen's  horses. 

"We  found  all  the  road  filled  with  splendid  equip- 
ages," writes  Mademoiselle.  "Madame  Royale  and  M. 
de  Savoie,  her  son,^  had  a  great  number  of  mules, 
with  muleteers  and  magnificent  housings,  some  of  black 
velvet,  others  of  crimson,  with  their  arms  embroidered 
on  them  in  gold  and  silver.  The  mules  of  all  persons 
of  rank  had  their  bells.  We  met  the  litiere  du  corps  of 
Madame  Royale,  preceded  by  twelve  pages  dressed 
in  black  bordered  with  black  velvet,  followed  by  her 
guards  with  an  officer  at  their  head.  These  wore  black 
casaques    braided    with    gold    and    silver.      There   was 

1  Charles  Emmanuel  II,  Duke  of  Savoy.  He  married  Jeanne  Baptiste 
de  Nemours,  and  died  in  1675,  leaving  a  son,  Victor  Amadeus,  born 
1666,  who  married  Anne-Marie  d'Orleans,  daughter  of  Monsieur  by  his 
first  marriage  with  Henrietta  of  England,  and  was  father  of  Marie 
Adelaide  of  Savoy,  Duchesse  de  Bourgogne. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  89 

another  litter  belonging  to  Madame  Royale,  and  several 
others.  We  met  a  number  of  coaches,  each  drawn  by- 
six  horses,  followed  by  footmen  in  livery,  all  being 
evidence  of  a  great  Court.  When  they  heard  that 
Madame  Royale  was  near,  they  came  to  inform  the 
King,  who  immediately  mounted  his  horse  and  went 
to  meet  her.  The  Queen  said  :  *  I  confess  I  am  im- 
patient to ,  know  what  the  King  will  think  of  the 
Princess  Margherita.'  Yet  she  showed  neither  desire 
for  nor  dislike  to  the  marriage,  but  observed  :  '  If  I 
could  have  the  Infanta,  I  should  be  overwhelmed  with 
joy.  Nevertheless,  I  cannot  but  be  content  with  what 
pleases  the  King.  At  the  same  time,  I  think  that  he 
would  prefer  the  Princess  of  England.' "  ^ 

Presently  Louis  came  galloping  back,  threw  himself 
from  his  horse,  and  approached  the  Queen's  coach. 
'''■Eh  bien  !  my  son  } "  exclaimed  Anne  of  Austria.  The 
King  replied,  "  She  is  much  smaller  than  Madame  la 
Marechale  de  Villeroi  ;  her  shape  is  the  most  graceful 

conceivable.      Her  complexion "      He   paused   for 

a  moment,  and  then  added,  "  Olive-coloured  ;  and  it 
becomes  her  well.  She  has  beautiful  eyes  ;  she  pleases 
me,  and  I  find  her  to  my  liking." 

Immediately  afterwards  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  ap- 
peared ;  the  coaches  stopped,  and  the  two  princesses 
descended  to  greet  one  another.  After  an  exchange  of 
compliments,  which  appears  to  have  revealed  Madame 
Royale  in  the  light  of  a  confirmed  flatterer,  that  lady 
and  her  two  daughters  entered  the  Queen's  coach. 
The  moment  they  were  seated  the  King  began  to  talk 
to  the  Princess  Margherita  "as  if  he  had  known  her 
all  his  life,"  to  the  great  astonishment  of  Mademoiselle, 

^  Henrietta-Anne,  daughter  of  Charles  I  and  Henrietta-Maria. 


90  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

for  the  King  was  naturally  cold  towards  strangers,  and 
"  very  little  inclined  to  be  sociable." 

When  Lyons  was  reached,  the  King  conducted  the 
Duchess  of  Savoy  to  the  apartments  which  had  been 
prepared  for  her  reception  in  the  archbishop's  palace, 
while  the  Queen  retired  to  her  cabinet,  where  she  was 
immediately  joined  by  the  Cardinal,  who  said  :  "  I  have 
some  news  to  tell  your  Majesty  which  she  does  not 
expect,  and  which  will  surprise  her  to  the  last  degree." 
"  Is  it  that  the  King,  my  brother,  sends  to  me  to  offer 
the  Infanta  ?  "  eagerly  inquired  the  Queen,  "  for  that  is 
what  I  least  expect."  "  Yes,  Madame,  it  is  that,"  rejoined 
the  triumphant  Minister. 

The  Cardinal's  stratagem  had  indeed  been  crowned 
with  complete  success,  for  almost  at  the  same  moment 
as  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  and  her  daughters  had  entered 
Lyons  by  one  gate,  Pimentel,  a  special  envoy  from 
Philip  IV,  had  entered  by  another,  bearing  an  offer  of 
peace  and  the  Infanta.' 

Marie  Mancini  had  not  formed  part  of  the  suite 
which  had  accompanied  their  Majesties  to  meet  the 
visitors  from  Savoy,  but  had  remained  at  Lyons.  So 
soon,  however,  as  the  royal  party  returned,  she  hastened 
to  inquire  of  Mademoiselle  what  sort  of  impression  the 
young  princess  had  made  upon  the  King.  To  which 
that  lady — not,  we  may  be  sure,  without  a  spice  of 
malice — replied  :  "  It  seemed  to  me  that  she  pleased 
him  greatly." 

1  Pimentel,  travelling  in  the  strictest  incognito,  since  he  was  unprovided 
with  a  passport  and  ran  the  risk  of  being  made  prisoner,  if  his  identity 
were  discovered,  had  arrived  at  Ma9on  on  19  November,  from  which 
town  he  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  to  acquaint  him  with  the  important  mission 
with  which  he  was  charged.  Mazarin,  however,  kept  his  arrival  a  pro- 
found secret,  and  his  dramatic  appearance  on  the  very  day  of  the  entry  of 
the  Princess  Margherita  had  been  carefully  arranged  by  the  Minister. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  91 

Marie  said  nothing  ;  but  the  same  evening  she  had 
a  long  and  very  animated  conversation  with  his  Majesty. 
What  passed  on  this  occasion  is  a  matter  for  conjecture, 
as  etiquette  obliged  those  present  to  remain  at  a  dis- 
tance. Mademoiselle,  however,  pretends  that  the  young 
lady  was  heard  to  say,  in  a  sarcastic  tone,  to  her  com- 
panion :  "  Are  you  not  ashamed,  Sire,  at  their  wishing 
to  give  you  so  ugly  a  wife  } " 

However  that  may  be,  by  the  following  morning  the 
King's  attitude  towards  the  Princess  Margherita  had 
completely  changed.  He  called  upon  her  at  an  early 
hour,  in  order,  so  it  was  said,  that  he  might  have  a  view 
of  her  figure  en  deshabille,  since  it  was  rumoured  that 
she  was  humpbacked,  but  was  as  cold  as  he  had  been 
assiduous  in  his  attentions  on  the  day  of  her  arrival ; 
conduct,  which  greatly  disconcerted  the  Duchess  of  Savoy, 
though  the  princess  herself  did  not  appear  to  notice 
anything.  In  the  evening,  at  the  Queen's,  it  was  worse 
still.  "The  King  never  ceased  talking  to  Mile,  de 
Mancini  before  the  Princess  Margherita,  to  whom  he 
did  not  address  a  single  word."  From  which  it  would 
appear  that,  whatever  Marie  may  have  taught  her  royal 
admirer,  good  manners  had  certainly  not  been  included 
in  the  curriculum.^ 

The  following  day,  the  Princess  Margherita's  brother, 

^  It  is  very  improbable  that,  as  several  writers  have  suggested,  the 
sudden  change  in  Louis  XIV's  attitude  towards  the  Princess  Margherita 
was  due  to  some  hint  he  had  received  from  Mazarin  rather  than  to  the 
influence  of  the  jealous  Marie,  since  Montglat,  a  well-informed  and  trust- 
worthy chronicler,  tells  us  that  the  Cardinal  was  at  first  inclined  to  regard 
Pimentel's  mission  with  considerable  suspicion :  "  He  feared  that  it  was 
merely  a  ruse  of  the  Spaniards  to  cause  the  Court  of  Savoy  to  leave  Lyons 
discontented  and  offended,  to  the  end  that,  on  its  return  to  Piedmont,  it 
might  enter  into  a  treaty  with  them  and  abandon  France,  in  order  to 
avenge  the  insult  which  it  had  received,  and  that  afterwards  they  would 
refuse  to  give  the  Infanta  to  the  King." 


92  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

the  Duke  of  Savoy,  a  handsome  and  amiable  young 
man,  arrived  at  Lyons.  He,  like  his  sister,  had  come 
with  matrimonial  intentions,  having  some  thought  of 
offering  his  hand  to  Mademoiselle,  and,  in  default  of 
her,  to  one  of  the  Cardinal's  nieces.  Notwithstanding 
her  immense  fortune,  the  Amazonian  princess  did  not 
please  him,  and  he  speedily  transferred  his  attentions  to 
the  beautiful  Hortense  Mancini,  to  whom  it  was  an 
open  secret  the  Cardinal  intended  to  bequeath  the 
bulk  of  his  wealth.  Mazarin  would  have  been  willing 
enough  to  conclude  so  brilliant  an  alliance  for  his 
favourite  niece  ;  but  the  Duke  was  not  content  with 
handsome  settlements  and  the  prospect  of  great  wealth. 
He  demanded  that  Pignerol,  which  belonged  at  this 
period  to  France,  should  be  ceded  to  him,  a  proposition 
which  the  Minister  declined  even  to  consider. 

Some  days  passed  without  any  discussion  taking  place 
between  the  two  Courts  in  regard  to  the  object  which 
had  brought  them  together,  during  which  Louis  XIV 
showed  the  same  coldness  to  the  Princess  Margherita  and 
the  same  empressement  towards  Marie  Mancini.  In  the 
meanwhile,  Pimentel  remained  at  Lyons,  strictly  pre- 
serving his  incognito  and  seeing  no  one,  except  Mazarin. 
The  Duke  of  Savoy,  although  unaware  of  the  arrival 
of  the  Spanish  envoy,  became  convinced  that  the 
Cardinal  was  merely  using  his  sister  as  a  pawn  in  his 
political  game,  and  his  dissatisfaction  being  increased 
by  the  failure  of  his  own  matrimonial  negotiations  and 
a  trivial  dispute  with  Monsieur  over  a  question  of  pre- 
cedence,^  took   his   departure   in   anger,   exclaiming,   if 

^  "  He  (the  Duke  of  Savoy)  behaved  to  the  King  with  great  respect ; 
but  as,  since  the  Regency,  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  his  father,  had  obtained 
the  favour  of  his  Ambassadors  being  received  as  those  of  crowned  heads, 
this  advantage,  which  he  held  only  under  the  kindness  of  the  King  and 
.he  facility  of  the  Minister,  caused  him  to  have  the  audacity  to  refuse  to 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  93 

we  are  to  believe  Mademoiselle:    "Adieu,  France,  and 
for  ever.     I  quit  thee  without  regret." 

The  Duchess  of  Savoy,  less  clear-sighted  than  her 
son,  and,  besides,  much  more  eager  for  the  match, 
refused  to  abandon  hope  ;  and  the  Cardinal,  consum- 
mate diplomatist  though  he  was,  found  the  situation 
distinctly  embarrassing,  since  he  was  unwilling  to  break 
off  definitely  all  negotiations  with  Savoy  until  he  had 
satisfied  himself  that  no  serious  hitch  was  likely  to  arise 
in  those  which  he  had  to  conduct  with  Spain.  Finally, 
however,  the  Duchess  learned  of  the  arrival  of  Pimentel, 
and,  in  a  great  state  of  agitation,  sought  out  the 
Cardinal  and  peremptorily  demanded  a  positive  answer. 
Mazarin,  perceiving  it  useless  to  dissemble  further,  then 
informed  her  of  the  proposals  which  had  been  received 
from  Philip  IV,  adding  that  it  was  the  imperative  duty 
of  his  young  master  to  take  this  the  only  means  of 
giving  peace  to  Europe  and  terminating  a  war  which 
had  already  lasted  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  the 
prolongation  of  which  could  serve  no  useful  purpose. 

Madame  Royale  became  *'  pale  as  death,"  and  *'  con- 
sidered whether  she  should  swoon  away,"  but,  by  a 
great  effort,  recovered  her  composure,  and  replied,  with 
dignity,  that  she  fully  comprehended  the  exigencies  of 
the  political  situation,  and  the  advantages  which  France 
would  derive  from  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIV  with  the 
Infanta,  but  that  she  demanded  at  least  some  guarantees 
for  the  Princess  Margherita,  in  the  event  of  anything 
arising  to  prevent  the  King  from  espousing  Maria 
Theresa. 

visit  Monsieur,  because  he  did  not  give  him  his  right  hand.  The  differ- 
ence was  in  reality  so  great  between  them,  that  the  late  Duke,  his  father, 
never  covered  his  head  in  Madame  Royale's  presence,  and  in  all  things, 
notwithstanding  his  position  as  husband,  he  showed  her  the  greatest 
respect." — "  Memoires  de  Madame  de  Motteville." 


94  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

But  if  the  Duchess  succeeded  in  restraining  her  feel- 
ings in  the  presence  of  the  Cardinal,  she  gave  full  vent 
to  her  chagrin  and  indignation  before  Mademoiselle^  who, 
calling  upon   her  later  in  the  day,  found   her  "greatly 
changed,"  and  saw  that  she  had  been  weeping  bitterly. 
Evening,   however,   came,   and,   with   it,   the    Cardinal, 
bringing  a    paper    signed    by    the    King's    own    hand, 
"  wherein    he    undertook   to    espouse    the   Princess    of 
Savoy,  if  within   a    year  from  that  date    his    marriage 
with  the  Infanta  had  not  been  concluded."^     To  this 
document  Mazarin,    "  who    was   somewhat  conscience- 
stricken,"    added  a    handsome  present:   a    pair  of  fine 
diamond   earrings,   a  number  of  other   trinkets,  and  a 
quantity  of  perfumes  and  fans  ;  at  sight  of  which,   the 
disconsolate  Duchess   straightway  dried  her  tears   and 
hurried  off  to  show  her  earrings  to  the  Queen.     "  She 
talked  of  nothing  else,  and  every  one  admired  the  happy 
change  from  tears  in  the  morning  to  gaiety  in  the  even- 
ing."    As    for    the   Princess   Margherita,   the   innocent 
victim  of  all  these  intrigues,  no  change  was  observable  in 
her.     "She  always  preserved  an  admirable  tranquillity, 
and  acted  in  the  matter  as  if  it  had  concerned  another."  ^ 
The  Duchess  of  Savoy  and  her  daughters  took  their 
departure  a  few  days  later,  their  Majesties  accompanying 
them  a  little  way  on  their  homeward  journey.    "  Madame 
Royale  wept ;  her  eldest  daughter  a  little.     As  for  the 
Princess  Margherita,   she  only  shed  a  few  tears,  which 
appeared  to  be  rather  those  of  anger  than    of  tender- 


ness." ^ 


On  returning  to  Lyons,  the  Queen  declared  herself 
much  relieved  at  having  got  rid  of  "  all  those  people," 
and  made  sport  of  the  Duchess  for  having  wept,  observ- 

1  "  Memoires  de  Montglat." 

2  "  Memoires  de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier."  *  Ibid. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  95 

ing  that  she  was  "the  most  consummate  actress  she 
had  ever  seen."  She  said  nothing  against  the  Princess 
Margherita,  "for  she  admired  her  conduct  and  the 
firmness  and  strength  of  mind  with  which  she  had  borne 
all  that  had  happened."  This  poor  princess,  after  losing 
the  most  splendid  crown  in  the  world,  was  reduced  to 
marrying  a  petty  Italian  prince,  the  Duke  of  Parma. 
She  died  in  1663,  the  same  year  as  her  mother,  the 
Duchess  Christine. 

A  few  days  after  the  departure  of  the  Princesses  of 
Savoy,  news  arrived  that  the  Queen  of  Spain  had  given 
birth  to  another  son,  and  Philip  IV  wrote  a  very 
affectionate  letter  to  his  sister  to  announce  this  happy 
event,  which  confirmed  her  hopes  for  peace  and  the 
marriage  of  Louis  with  the  Infanta. 

The  Court  remained  at  Lyons  until  the  end  of  the 
following  January.  Marie  Mancini  was  ill  for  some 
days,  during  which  the  King  visited  her  constantly. 
We  may  surmise  that  her  illness  was  not  wholly  uncon- 
nected with  the  events  which  were  passing  around  her. 
She  had  abandoned  herself  unreservedly  to  her  passion 
for  the  King,  to  the  intoxication  of  a  reciprocated  attach- 
ment, doubly  sweet  to  one  whose  life  up  to  that  time 
had  been  so  sad  and  lonely,  without  troubling  herself  to 
reflect  what  must  be  the  ultimate  issue  of  a  sentiment 
of  this  nature  between  two  persons  of  such  very  different 
stations.  She  had,  in  fact,  thought  only  of  the  present 
and  closed  her  eyes  to  the  future.  The  arrival  of  the 
Princess  Margherita,  and  the  favourable  impression 
which  she  was  reported  to  have  made  upon  the  King, 
had  abruptly  opened  them,  and  aroused  her  to  a  full 
comprehension  of  the  danger  which  threatened  her.  Her 
passionate  and  violent  nature  awoke,  and,  with  it,  the 


96  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

pride  and  ambition  which  were  the  dominant  traits  in 
her  character.  The  thought  of  being  supplanted,  even 
nominally,  in  the  heart  of  the  man  she  loved  by  another 
woman  was  intolerable  to  her  ;  the  thought  of  being 
deposed  from  the  place  which  she  had  come  to  look  upon 
as  rightfully  hers  was  even  more  bitter.  Overestimating 
the  extent  of  her  influence  over  Louis,  she  flattered 
herself  that,  even  if  circumstances  had  not  come  to  her 
aid,  she  would  still  have  experienced  little  difficulty  in 
weaning  the  King  from  any  desire  he  might  have  had  to 
wed  the  Princess  Margherita  ;  and,  though  she  could 
not  disguise  from  herself  that  in  the  Infanta,  or  rather  in 
the  great  interests  which  the  Infanta  represented,  she  had 
a  far  more  formidable  foe  to  contend  with,  she  was  in 
no  way  dismayed.  Nor  did  she  intend  to  rest  content 
with  a  defensive  attitude  ;  she  herself  was  resolved  to 
enter  the  lists  as  a  candidate  for  this  dazzling  prize. 
Too  proud  and  too  shrewd  to  become  the  mistress  of 
the  King,  she  foresaw  that  the  young  sovereign's  passion 
could  ere  long  be  goaded  to  the  point  of  marriage  ; 
and,  that  resolution  once  taken,  she  firmly  believed 
that  neither  the  opposition  of  the  Queen  and  the 
Cardinal,  nor  the  duty  he  owed  his  realm,  would  be 
able  to  turn  him  from  his  purpose. 

On  her  recovery  from  her  illness,  Marie,  "  charmed 
with  the  King's  fidelity  and  the  power  she  had  over  him, 
resumed  her  usual  post,  which  was  always  near  him, 
talking  with  him  and  following  him  wherever  it  was 
possible,  and  the  satisfaction  she  felt  in  believing  herself 
beloved  made  her  love  still  more  him  whom  she 
already  loved  too  much."  ^ 

1  "Memoires  de  Madame  de  Motteville."  Madame  de  Motteville  had 
not  accompanied  the  Court  to  Lyons,  but  she  was  kept  well  informed  of 
ail  that  was  passing  there  by  her  friends'  letters. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  97 

Louis  XIV  certainly  gave  the  young  lady  ample 
excuse  for  her  conduct.  He  scarcely  quitted  her  side. 
Every  morning,  he  called  upon  her  ;  every  evening,  he 
invited  her  to  share  his  collation  ;  then  accompanied  her 
to  the  Queen's,  and  when  her  Majesty  had  retired  for 
the  night,  escorted  her  home.  "At  first  he  followed 
her  coach,  next  he  acted  as  coachman,  and  finally  he 
took  a  seat  inside."  He  was  lodged,  as  were  Marie 
and  her  sisters,  in  the  Place  Bellecour  ;  and  on  moon- 
light nights  the  two  young  people  often  promenaded  in 
the  Place  until  a  very  late  hour.  If  his  Majesty  went 
to  the  play,  he  invariably  took  Marie  with  him  and 
installed  her  by  his  side  at  one  end  of  the  tribune 
reserved  for  him  ;  the  other  being  usually  occupied  by 
Monsieur  and  Mademoiselle. 

All  these  attentions  naturally  made  a  great  stir ; 
nothing  else  was  talked  of,  either  by  the  Court  or  the 
public,  but  the  King's  passion  for  the  Cardinal's  niece. 
His  Eminence,  though  frequently  confined  to  his  house 
by  the  gout,  was,  of  course,  perfectly  well  aware  of 
all  that  was  happening.  Still,  he  made  no  attempt  to 
interfere.  So  far  the  King's  attachment  had  served  a 
useful  purpose  in  preserving  Louis  from  the  wiles  of 
ambitious  beauties,  who  might  have  endeavoured  to 
undermine  his  own  influence,  and,  in  particular,  in 
detaching  him  from  all  thought  of  marriage  with  the 
Princess  of  Savoy  ;  and  as  yet  he  could  not  bring  him- 
self to  believe  that  his  young  master  could  be  so  regard- 
less of  his  own  dignity,  and  so  indifferent  to  the 
interests  of  his  kingdom,  as  to  desire  to  carry  the  affair 
to  its  legitimate  conclusion. 

That  he  might  be  tempted  to  carry  it  to  its  illegiti- 
mate one  was  in  the  Cardinal's  opinion  far  more 
probable ;    the    moonlight    promenades    in    the    Place 


98  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Bellecour  had  occasioned  him  no  little  uneasiness  ;  and 
he  accordingly  enjoined  upon  Madame  de  Venel,  the 
gouvernante  of  Marie  and  her  sisters,  to  keep  the  strictest 
watch  over  her  charges.  The  young  ladies  slept  upon 
the  ground-floor,  and  the  windows  of  their  chamber, 
which  opened  on  to  the  Place,  were  so  low  as  to  afford 
an  easy  means  of  access  to  any  one  who  desired  to  enter. 
The  gouvernante  promised  implicit  obedience,  and  kept 
her  word,  the  result  being  an  amusing  incident. 

"  Madame  de  Venel,"  writes  Hortense,  "  was  so 
accustomed  to  her  profession  of  guardian  (or  rather  of 
spy),  even  at  night,  that  she  rose  in  her  sleep  to  see 
what  we  were  doing.  One  night,  as  my  sister  Marie  lay 
asleep,  with  her  mouth  open,  Madame  de  Venel,  coming, 
all  asleep  as  she  was,  to  grope  in  the  dark,  happened  to 
thrust  her  finger  into  her  mouth  so  far,  that  my  sister, 
starting  out  of  her  sleep,  made  her  teeth  meet  in  the 
lady's  finger.  Picture  to  yourselves  the  amazement  that 
they  were  both  in,  when  they  were  thoroughly  awake, 
to  find  themselves  in  this  position.  My  sister  was 
extremely  angry  at  this  inquisition.  Next  day,  the 
story  was  related  to  the  King,  and  all  the  Court  laughed 
over  it. 

The  Court  left  Lyons  at  the  end  of  January  1659. 
The  weather  was  bitterly  cold,  notwithstanding  which 
Louis  XIV  announced  his  intention  of  making  the 
greater  part  of  the  journey  on  horseback.  Mademoiselle 
and  most  of  the  elder  ladies  preferred  the  warmth  and 
shelter  of  their  coaches,  but  several  of  the  younger 
readily  agreed  to  accompany  his  Majesty  and  his  suite, 
this  mode  of  travel  providing  excellent  opportunities 
for  flirtation.  Among  these,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
observe,  was  Marie  Mancini,  who,  attired  in  a  velvet 
1  "Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  99 

justaucorps  trimmed  with  fur  and  a  black  velvet  cap 
decorated  with  a  plume,  presented,  we  are  assured,  a 
particularly  charming  appearance,  and  had  the  honour  of 
her  sovereign's  escort  nearly  the  whole  of  the  way,  the 
rest  of  the  equestrians  being  careful  to  keep  at  a  respect- 
ful distance,  so  as  not  to  embarrass  the  lovers.  As 
the  Cardinal  and  the  jealous  Comtesse  de  Soissons  were 
making  the  return  journey,  as  far  as  Nevers,  by  water, 
and  Madame  de  Venel  remained  in  her  coach  with 
Hortense,  who  was  very  susceptible  to  cold,  there  was 
no  one  to  interfere  with  her  enjoyment  of  the  King's 
society,  and  she  was  in  the  highest  spirits,  while  Louis 
shared  her  good  humour.  "The  King,"  writes  Mademoi- 
selle, *'  was  in  a  much  better  humour  since  he  had  fallen 
in  love  with  Mile,  de  Mancini ;  he  was  gay,  and  talked  to 
every  one." 


CHAPTER   VI 

Marie  Mancini's  confidences — Alarm  of  Anne  of  Austria  and  Mazarin 
at  the  King's  passion  for  Marie — Louis  XIV  plays  a  practical  joke 
on  Madame  de  Venel — Visit  of  Don  Juan  of  Austria  to  Paris — His 
jester  and  Marie  Mancini — The  "  debauch  of  Roissy  " — Philippe 
Mancini  disgraced  and  imprisoned  by  the  Cardinal — Pimentel  in  Paris 
— Astonishment  of  the  Spanish  envoy  at  the  King's  attentions  to 
Marie — Increasing  alarm  of  the  Cardinal  and  the  Queen — Louis  XIV 
demands  the  Cardinal's  permission  to  marry  his  niece — Question  of 
Mazarin's  conduct  in  this  matter  considered — Painful  scene  between 
the  King  and  Anne  of  Austria — The  Cardinal  determines  to  exile 
Marie — Despair  of  the  King  and  firmness  of  Mazarin — Interview 
between  Louis  XIV  and  Marie — The  pearls  of  Henrietta  Maria — 
The  King's  grief — Departure  of  Marie  and  her  sisters  for  La 
Rochelle. 

**  I  ""HE  Court  was  very  gay  that  winter.  "  On  our 
"■•  return  to  Paris,"  writes  Marie  Mancini,  "our 
only  care  was  to  amuse  ourselves  ;  there  was  not  a 
day,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  not  a  minute,  which 
was  not  devoted  to  pleasure  ;  and  I  may  say  that  never 
had  time  been  spent  as  we  spent  it.  His  Majesty, 
wishing  to  ensure  the  continuance  of  our  amusements, 
commanded  all  who  formed  our  circle  to  amuse  us  in 
turn.  There  was  nothing  but  a  succession  of  enter- 
tainments and  balls;  and  although  these  frequently  took 
place  in  country  spots,  there  was,  nevertheless,  nothing 
more  magnificent ;  to  be  convinced  of  which,  it  will  be 
enough  to  know  that  these  entertainments  were  given 
by  persons  of  the  first  quality,  and  that  love,  which  is 
full  of  resource  and  inspires  everything  into  which  it 

100 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  loi 

enters,  arranged  them  with  care.  For,  in  a  word,  there 
was  not  a  cavalier  who  did  not  take  part  in  them.  The 
Grand  Master  ^  put  forth  every  effort  to  please  my 
sister  Hortense,  the  Marquis  de  Richelieu  took  the  same 
care  for  Mile,  de  la  Motte-Argencourt,^  the  Marquis 
d'Alluye  for  Mile,  du  Fouilloux,  whom  he  subsequently 
married,  in  whom  his  Majesty  and  myself  had  the 
utmost  confidence,  and  several  others  who  had  similar 
engagements,  and  of  whom  space  forbids  me  to  speak 
here.  The  gallant  adventures  which  accompanied  our 
entertainments  and  our  promenades  would  demand  a 
whole  volume  ;  so  I  shall  pass  over  them  in  silence,  and 
content  myself  with  recounting  one,  which  will  show 
with  what  delicacy  the  King  loved,  and  that  he  lost  no 
opportunity  of  giving  me  proof  of  it.  It  was,  if  my 
memory  does  not  deceive  me,  at  Bois-le-Vicomte,  as  I 
was  walking  very  quickly  under  a  row  of  trees,  his 
Majesty  wished  to  give  me  his  hand,  and  mine,  happen- 
ing to  strike,  although  rather  lightly,  against  the  pommel 
of  his  sword,  he  drew  it  sharply  from  its  scabbard  and 
threw  it  far  away.  I  know  not  how  to  describe  the 
manner  in  which  he  performed  this  action ;  there  are  no 
words  to  express  it." 

Since  his  return  from  Lyons,  indeed,  the  King's 
passion  for  Marie  had  increased  in  a  positively  alarming 
manner,  and  they  were  scarcely  ever  apart.  "  The  King 
never  came  into  the  Queen's  presence  without  Mile. 
Mancini,"  says  Madame  de  Motteville.  "  She  followed 
him  everywhere  and  whispered  in  his  ear,  in  the  presence 
of  even  the  Queen  herself,  undeterred  by  the  respect 

^  The  Grand  Master  of  the  Artillery,  Armand  de  la  Porte,  Marquis 
de  la  Meilleraye,  afterwards  Due  de  Mazarin. 

*  Apparently,  she  means  Mile,  de  la  Motte-Houdancourt.  Mile,  de 
la  Motte-Argencourt  had  been  sent  to  a  convent  (see  p.  65  supra.) 


102  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

and  decorum  which  she  owed  her.  .  .  .  The  Kind's  attach- 
ment  to  the  Cardinal's  niece  gave  the  Queen  pain.  She 
feared  a  result  that  would  be  unworthy  of  the  King  ; 
and  she  desired  that  the  Infanta,  bringing  him  a  pure 
heart  that  was  wholly  his,  might  not  find  his  heart 
already  occupied  by  an  affection  in  every  way  unworthy 
of  him,  through  the  boldness  which  she  knew  existed  in 
the  girl's  disposition.  At  this  moment,  these  intentions 
seemed  to  be  in  keeping  with  what  he  owed  himself; 
but  a  passion,  however  feeble,  when  fed  and  sustained 
by  another  stronger  and  more  violent,  might  change 
them  ;  and  this  was  what  the  Queen  feared. 

Mazarin,  too,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  not  opposed 
the  King's  inclination  so  long  as  he  believed  it  might 
serve  his  own  ends,  was  becoming  seriously  alarmed  ; 
for,  even  supposing  that  Louis  had  no  serious  inten- 
tions, such  conduct  was  in  the  highest  degree  indiscreet 
on  the  part  of  a  sovereign  who  proposed  to  contract  an 
alliance  with  the  proudest  house  in  Europe,  and  might, 
if  rumours  of  it  were  to  reach  Madrid,  prove  a  formid- 
able hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the  negotiations  with 
Spain.  Both  he  and  the  Queen,  accordingly,  resolved 
to  put  an  end  to  the  affair  as  speedily  as  possible,  and, 
in  the  meanwhile,  took  Madame  de  Venel  into  their  confi- 
dence, and  bade  her  keep  the  strictest  watch  over  the 
movements  of  Mile,  Marie. 

Madame  de  Venel  promised  obedience,  and  set  about 
her  congenial  task  with  such  good-will  as  to  draw  upon 
her  the  dislike  of  the  King.  "  One  day,  when  the  King 
was  distributing  sweetmeats  to  the  ladies  of  the  Court, 
in  boxes  gallantly  ornamented  with  different  coloured 
ribbons,  Madame  de  Venel  received  hers  and  opened  it. 
But  what  was  her  terror  to  see  emerge  a  dozen  mice,  a 
kind  of  animal  of  which,  it  was   known,  she  entertained 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  103 

the  greatest  horror  !  Her  first  Impulse  urged  her  to 
precipitately  quit  the  company ;  but,  immediately  calling 
to  mind  the  promise  which  she  had  given  the  Queen 
never  to  let  Mile,  de  Mancini  out  of  her  sight,  she 
retraced  her  steps  and  re-entered  the  apartment.  The 
King,  who  had  just  seated  himself  on  a  sofa  with  Mile, 
de  Mancini,  and  was  already  felicitating  himself  on  the 
success  of  his  enterprise,  astonished  at  seeing  Madame 
de  Venel  return  so  soon,  said  to  her  :  *  What !  Have 
you  recovered  from  your  alarm  already,  Madame  ? ' 
*  No,  Sire,'  replied  she,  *  it  is  because  I  have  not  re- 
covered from  my  alarm  that,  in  order  to  regain  my 
courage,  I  thought  it  necessary  to  keep  close  to  the  son 
of  Mars.'  And,  with  that,  she  seated  herself  on  the  sofa 
between  them."  ^ 

In  the  meantime,  the  negotiations  with  Spain  were 
progressing  steadily.  Pimentel  had  arrived  in  Paris 
soon  after  the  return  of  the  Court  from  Lyons,  and 
numerous  interviews  had  taken  place  between  him  and 
Mazarin,  in  which  the  principal  bases  of  the  treaty  had 
already  been  agreed  upon.  The  advent  of  Pimentel  had 
greatly  perturbed  Marie  Mancini,  who  was  still  more 
alarmed  when,  in  March  1659,  Spain  made  a  further 
step  in  advance,  and  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  natural  son 
of  Philip  IV  and  the  actress  Calderona,  came  to  visit 
the  Queen  on  his  way  from  Flanders  to  Madrid.  Don 
Juan  came  incognito,  notwithstanding  which  the  Queen 
addressed  him  as  "  My  nephew,"  and  he  was  lodged  at 
the  Louvre.  He  gave  himself  very  haughty  airs,  ever? 
in  the  presence  of  the  King,  and  scarcely  deigned  to 
notice  Monsieur  and  Mademoiselle,  to  their  intense  morti- 
fication. 

1  Manuscript  "  Memoire  sur  Madame  de  Venel,"  published  by  Lucien 
Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


I04  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

According  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  the  Prince  had 
with  him  a  jester,  a  girl  called  Capitor,  the  fame  of 
whose  wit  had  preceded  her.  She  arrived  in  Paris 
shortly  after  her  master,  dressed  as  a  man,  with  closely- 
cropped  hair,  a  hat,  and  a  sword.  "  She  was  ugly  and 
cross-eyed,"  says  Mademoiselle^  "  but  had  an  infinitude 
of  wit,  and  was  a  very  pretty  fool.  The  King  took  so 
great  a  fancy  to  her  that  she  never  quitted  the  Louvre. 
The  Queen  and  Monsieur  were  greatly  diverted  by  her, 
and  1  myself  also." 

But,  alas  !  Senorita  Capitor  was  continually  talking 
of  and  praising  the  Infanta,  a  habit  which  did  not  at  all 
tend  to  commend  her  to  Marie  Mancini,  who  conceived 
the  greatest  dislike  to  her,  spoke  of  her  as  "  the  fool," 
and  jeered  at  her.  Capitor  retaliated  and  let  fall  some 
biting  jests  at  the  young  lady's  expense,  which  duly 
reached  the  latter's  ears,  and  so  enraged  her  that  she 
complained  to  the  King,  who  gave  orders  that  the  girl 
should  be  sent  away.  The  Queen,  Monsieur,  and 
Mademoiselle,  and  nearly  all  the  ladies  of  the  Court, 
made  her  presents,  and  many  begged  her  to  mention 
them  to  the  Infanta.  The  King  derided  these  last,  and 
"the  Queen  perceived  that  Mile,  de  Mancini  allowed  no 
opportunity  to  slip  of  ruining  in  the  mind  of  Louis  XIV 
all  those  who,  whether  near  or  far,  belonged  to  the 
Infanta."^ 

Shortly  after  the  departure  of  Don  Juan,  an  incident 
occurred  which,  for  a  moment,  diverted  attention  from 
Marie  Mancini  to  her  brother  Philippe,  and  "  obliged 
the  Court  to  praise  the  Cardinal  not  only  in  his  presence, 
but  in  all  places." 

A  party  of  gay  young  noblemen,  amongst  whom  was 
Philippe    Mancini,    the    Marquis    de    Manicamp,    the 
1  "  Memoires  de  Mile,  de  Montpensier." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  105 

Comte  de  Guiche,  and  Bussy-Rabutin,  were  invited  by 
the  Comte  de  Vivonne,  First  Gentleman  of  the  Chamber, 
to  spend  Holy  Week  with  him  at  his  country-house  at 
Roissy  ;  and,  by  a  singular  coincidence,  the  King's 
Almoner,  the  Abbe  Le  Camus,  was  also  one  of  the 
guests.  People  were  not  slow  in  recounting  the  most 
unheard-of  things  in  regard  to  the  doings  of  this 
pleasure-party,  so  out  of  place  during  the  Holy  Days. 
"  They  were  accused  of  having  chosen  the  time  with 
sacrilegious  intent,  the  least  of  which  was  the  eating  of 
meat  on  Good  Friday ;  they  were  even  accused  of 
having  committed  certain  impieties,  unworthy  not 
only  of  Christians,  but  of  men  of  sense."  ^  It  was  said 
that  they  had  eaten  a  sucking-pig,  after  causing  it  to  be 
baptized  by  the  Abbe  Le  Camus  ;  nor  was  it  long 
before  the  sucking-pig  became  a  man,  whom  they  had 
killed  and  partially  devoured.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
had  done  nothing  worse  than  play  some  harmless  prac- 
tical joke  on  a  notary  who  happened  to  be  passing  that 
way,  and  who  was  so  little  offended  that  he  sub- 
sequently joined  them  at  supper.  Their  real  offence, 
however,  lay  in  having  composed  a  song  in  which 
various  prominent  members  of  the  Court  were  some- 
what roughly  handled.  Very  imprudently,  a  copy  of 
this  song  was  circulated,  and  eventually  found  its  way 
into  the  hands  of  the  Queen,  and  from  hers  to  the 
Cardinal's,  who,  "  to  show  that  he  did  not  intend  to 
protect  the  crime,  determined  to  punish  all  the  accom- 
plices in  the  person  of  his  nephew,  whom  he  dismissed 
from  the  Court  and  his  presence,"  and  imprisoned  in 
the  citadel  of  Brissac. 

This  action  on  the  part  of  the  Cardinal  was  the  more 
unjust  since,  according  to  Bussy-Rabutin,  who,  as  we 

1  "  Memoires  de  Madame  de  Motteville." 


io6  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

have  mentioned,  was  one  of  the  party,  the  luckless 
Mancini,  seeing  the  turn  events  were  taking  at  Roissy, 
had  quitted  the  company  soon  after  his  arrival  and  shut 
himself  up  in  his  room,  and  on  the  morning  of  Good 
Friday  had  returned  to  Paris.  But  Mazarin,  who 
heartily  disliked  his  nephew,  was  delighted  at  the 
opportunity  of  proving  that  he  did  not  favour  his 
family.  Moreover,  the  intimacy  existing  between  the 
young  man  and  the  King  did  not  at  all  commend  itself 
to  his  Eminence,  who  suspected  that,  if  occasion  arose, 
Philippe  might  be  employed  as  an  intermediary  between 
Louis  XIV  and  Marie  ;  and  the  pretext  for  getting  rid 
of  him  seemed  too  good  to  be  lost. 

The  negotiations  with  Spain  continued  to  advance. 
Pimentel  was  again  in  Paris,  occupying  a  suite  of  apart- 
ments at  the  Palais-Mazarin,  and  he  and  the  Cardinal 
were  constantly  closeted  together.^  It  was  an  open 
secret  that  everything  hinged  upon  the  marriage  be- 
tween Louis  XIV  and  the  Infanta,  for  the  concessions 
demanded  by  France  were  such  as,  in  ordinary  circum- 
stances, Philip  IV  would  most  certainly  refuse,  but 
might  accord  without  loss  of  dignity  to  his  son-in-law. 

For  some  time,  Pimentel  kept  within  the  walls  of  the 
Palais-Mazarin,  and  did  not  show  himself  in  public,  a 
precaution  which  is  somewhat  difficult  to  account  for, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  all  Paris  was  aware  of  his  visit 
and  its  object.  At  length,  however,  the  preliminary 
negotiations  having  been  concluded,  he  accepted  an 
invitation  to  attend  a  magnificent  fete  given  by  the 
Minister  Lionne  at  his  chateau  at  Berny.  The  King  and 
Queen,   the   Cardinal,   Marie   Mancini,  and  nearly  the 

^  As  the  Palais-Mazarin  was  not  yet  finished,  the  Cardinal  still 
occupied  his  apartments  at  the  Louvre. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  107 

whole  of  the  Court  were  present,  and  the  entertainment 
was  worthy  of  the  illustrious  guests.  There  was  a 
concert,  a  play,  and  a  splendid  supper,  followed  by 
a  display  of  fireworks  on  the  canal,  and  the  festivities 
terminated  with  a  ball.  His  Majesty  complimented  his 
host  warmly  on  the  entertainment  he  had  provided, 
declared  that  he  had  never  visited  a  country-house  which 
he  had  admired  more,  nor  enjoyed  himself  so  much  in  a 
single  day.  The  latter  statement  was  probably  true 
enough,  seeing  that,  undeterred  by  the  presence  of 
Pimentel,  he  did  not  quit  Mile.  Mancini's  side  for  a 
moment,  to  the  intense  astonishment  of  the  Spanish 
envoy,  who,  although  he  had  heard  rumours  of  the 
King's  infatuation,  had  not  yet  had  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  the  lovers  together.  So  scandalized  was  he  at 
such  conduct  on  the  part  of  a  monarch  who  aspired  to 
the  hand  of  his  master's  daughter,  that  on  the  morrow 
he  could  not  refrain  from  unbosoming  himself  to 
Mazarin. 

The  Cardinal  was  now  thoroughly  alarmed.  The 
remonstrances  which  he  had  addressed  to  his  niece,  and 
the  hints  he  had  from  time  to  time  thrown  out  in  the 
presence  of  his  young  sovereign,  had  fallen  on  barren 
ground  ;  and  it  appeared  to  him  that  the  King  had 
deliberately  chosen  the  fete  at  Berny  to  flaunt  his 
passion  in  the  face  of  the  whole  world. 

The  Queen,  on  her  side,  was  no  less  disquieted  ;  she 
could  no  longer  conceal  from  herself  the  extraordinary 
influence  v/hich  this  young  girl  exercised  over  her  im- 
pressionable son.  Very  submissive  hitherto  to  his 
mother's  wishes,  Louis  seemed  now  to  trouble  himself 
very  little  about  them,  and,  in  certain  circumstances, 
did  not  fear  even  to  brave  them  openly.  A  recent 
incident  had  shown  her  this  but  too  plainly. 


io8  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

During  the  Carnival,  a  very  gorgeous  ballet  had  been 
performed  at  the  Court,  in  which  Marie  Mancini  had 
particularly  distinguished  herself,  and,  as  the  reigning 
favourite,  had  of  course  been  rewarded  with  loud 
applause.  To  please  her,  the  King  announced  that  the 
ballet  would  be  danced  again  during  Lent.  This  de- 
cision was  extremely  repugnant  to  the  Queen,  who 
remonstrated  with  her  son  in  the  strongest  terms,  finally 
declaring  that,  if  he  kept  to  hL  intention,  she  would 
not  only  refuse  to  be  present,  but  would  go  to  spend 
Lent  at  Val-de-Grace.  "  Ek  bien  !  You  can  go,"  re- 
torted the  King  brusquely.  Then  Marie,  delighted  to 
find  that  she  had  only  to  express  a  wish  for  it  to  be 
obeyed,  herself  begged  the  King  to  do  as  her  Majesty 
desired,  a  request  with  which  Louis  at  once  complied. 

It  had  been  decided  that  the  final  negotiations  with 
Spain  should  take  place  at  Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  where 
Mazarin  and  Don  Louis  de  Haro,  the  Spanish  Prime 
Minister,  were  to  confer  together  and  draw  up  the  terms 
of  the  definitive  treaty  ;  and  the  Cardinal  pointed  out 
that  it  was  imperative  that  the  King  and  Queen  should 
follow  him  to  Bayonne,  in  order  to  be  at  hand  in  the 
event  of  any  serious  difficulty  arising.  Anne  of  Austria, 
therefore,  implored  her  son  to  give  her  his  solemn 
assurance  that  he  would  raise  no  opposition  to  the 
projected  marriage  with  the  Infanta  ;  to  which  Louis 
replied,  coldly  and  evasively,  that  he  had  no  intention 
of  opposing  it,  but  that  there  was  time  enough  to 
consider  it,  as  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  had  not  yet 
been  decided  on  by  either  side. 

The  King  did  not  fail  to  render  an  account  of  what 
had  passed  between  his  mother  and  himself  to  Marie, 
vowing  that  nothing  should  induce  him  to  consent  to 
the   match,  and   that  he   would   wed  no  one  but  her  ; 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  109 

while  the  girl,  on  her  side,  left  no  means  untried  to 
confirm  him  in  this  resolution,  and  to  prejudice  his 
mind  against  the  Cardinal  and  the  Queen.  "The 
opposition  of  the  Cardinal,"  says  Madame  de  la 
Fayette,  whose  recital  is  confirmed  by  all  contemporary 
"  Memoires ''  and  by  numerous  unpublished  documents, 
"  only  served  to  embitter  her  against  him  and  to  cause 
her  to  render  him  all  kinds  of  ill  turns.  She  did  not 
do  the  Queen  any  less  injury  in  the  mind  of  the  King, 
both  by  condemning  her  conduct  during  the  Regency, 
and  by  informing  him  of  all  that  malice  had  invented 
against  her.  Finally,  she  succeeded  in  making  herself 
so  absolutely  mistress  of  his  mind,  that,  during  the 
time  that  the  preliminary  negotiations  in  regard  to  the 
peace  and  the  marriage  were  in  progress,  he  demanded 
of  the  Cardinal  permission  to  espouse  her."  ^ 

Some  historians  maintain  that  Mazarin  was  for  a 
moment  allured  by  the  prospect  of  seeing  his  niece 
Queen  of  France,  and  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
strenuous  opposition  of  Anne  of  Austria,  he  would 
have  allowed  Louis  XIV  to  have  his  way.  This  con- 
tention appears  to  rest  principally  on  a  supposed 
conversation  between  the  Cardinal  and  the  Queen, 
which  is  related  by  Madame  de  Motteville  in  her 
"  M6moires."  "The  aversion  which  the  Queen  enter- 
tained for  Mile,  de  Mancini,"  she  says,  "  was  greatly 
increased  by  a  speech  which  her  uncle  made  to  her.  He 
was  the  slave  of  ambition  and  capable  of  ingratitude, 
and  had  an  innate  desire  to  prefer  his  own  interests  to 
those  of  every  one  else.  His  niece,  intoxicated  by  her 
passion  and  persuaded  of  the  power  of  her  own  charms, 
had  the  presumption  to  imagine  that  the  King  loved 
her  enough  to  do  all  things  for  her  ;  and  accordingly 
1  "  Histoire  de  Madame  Henriette  d'Angleterre." 


no  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

she  let  her  uncle  know  that  on  the  terms  on  which  she 
stood  with  the  King,  it  was  not  impossible  that  she 
might  become  Queen,  provided  he  would  contribute 
his  influence  to  further  her  ambition.  The  Cardinal 
could  not  refuse  himself  so  fine  an  adventure,  and  he 
one  day  spoke  of  it  to  the  Queen,  laughing  at  the  folly 
of  his  niece,  but  in  a  manner  so  ambiguous  and  em- 
barrassed that  he  allowed  her  to  see  clearly  enough 
what  he  had  in  his  mind  to  cause  her  to  reply  in  these 
words  :  *  I  do  not  believe,  Monsieur  le  Cardinal,  that 
the  King  could  be  capable  of  such  baseness  ;  but,  if 
it  were  possible  that  he  should  think  of  it,  I  warn  you 
that  all  France  will  revolt  against  you  and  him,  and  that 
I  will  put  myself  at  the  head  of  the  rebels  and  induce 
my  second  son  [Philippe,  Due  d'Anjou]  to  join  them.' " 
M.  Chantelauze  pronounces  without  hesitation  for  the 
authenticity  of  this  conversation.  He  pretends  that 
Madame  de  Motteville's  evidence  is  "  above  suspicion," 
that  it  is  "  irrefutable,"  because  *'  no  one  had  more  know- 
ledge of  the  private  affairs  of  the  Queen."  ^  On  the 
other  hand,  the  best-informed  biographers  of  both 
Mazarin  and  Marie  Mancini,  such  as  M.  Cheruel, 
M.  Amedee  Renee,  M.  Charles  Livet,  Lucien  Perey, 
and  Mr.  J.  B.  Perkins,  are  unanimous  in  discrediting  it. 
They  point  out  that,  in  the  first  place,  the  writer,  who 
was  a  bitter  enemy  of  Mazarin,  does  not  venture  to 
assert  that  she  had  her  information  from  the  Queen's 
own  lips.  In  the  second,  that  the  Cardinal  was  at  this 
time,  as  Madame  de  Motteville  herself  admits,  a  few 
pages  further  on  in  her  "  Memoires,"  absolute  master 
of  the  Queen's  mind,^  and  it  is,  therefore,  in  the  highest 

1  «  Louis  XIV  et  Marie  Mancini." 

2  '*The  Cardinal  exercised  so  absolute  an  empire  over  the  Queen's 
mind  that  she  did  not  dare  to  do  anything  without  his  advice,  and  that  he 
did  not  allow  her  to  dispose  of  a  simple  benefice." 


From  an  engraving  after  tlie  paintinj  by  Sir  Peter  Lely 

^:ARII•:  maxcixi 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  in 

degree  improbable  that  she  would  have  addressed  him 
in  such  terms.  And,  finally,  that  the  surer  record  of 
Mazarin's  letters,  and  his  conduct  throughout  the  affair, 
show  that  he  had  always  resolutely  opposed  a  step  which 
would  not  only  have  been  fraught  with  disaster  to 
France,  but  would  have  been  fatal  to  his  own  interests. 
"  Mazarin,"  says  Mr.  Perkins,  *•  had  nothing  to  gain  by 
it  and  much  to  lose.  He  would  become  the  uncle  of  a 
queen,  instead  of  the  successor  of  Richelieu.  To  have 
his  niece  the  Queen  of  France  might,  under  some  cir- 
cumstances, have  gratified  his  vanity,  but  the  negotia- 
tions for  the  Spanish  alliance  had  been  practically 
arranged  when  the  passion  of  Louis  XIV  reached  its 
height.  The  Cardinal  would  have  sacrificed  the  treaty 
which  he  believed  would  help  to  ensure  him  permanent 
fame  ;  he  would  have  incurred  the  enmity  of  the  nation 
for  the  continuance  of  the  war  ;  the  enmity  of  the 
Queen  for  interfering  with  her  favourite  scheme,  and 
the  enmity  of  Louis  so  soon  as  his  passion  had  abated, 
and  he  realised  that  the  greatest  prince  in  the  world  had 
made  a  misalliance.  Had  Marie  been  able  to  control 
the  King's  policy,  it  would  not  have  advanced  the 
interests  of  Mazarin.  He  already  possessed  to  the 
fullest  extent  the  affection  and  confidence  of  Louis  XIV, 
and  he  had  little  hold  on  his  niece,  who  was  impatient, 
ungovernable,  and  wasted  very  little  love  on  her 
uncle."  ^ 

The  Queen,  learning  from  the  Cardinal  of  the  un- 
heard of  step  which  her  son  had  just  taken,  sum- 
moned him  to  her  cabinet,  when  she  employed  every 
argument  she  could  think  of  to  divert  him  from  his 
purpose,  appealing  in  turn  to  his  sense  of  duty,  his 
1  "  France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin." 


112  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

honour,  and  his  delicacy.  All  was  in  vain.  "The 
young  King  was  no  longer  his  own  master ;  he  belonged 
to  those  black  eyes  which  looked  into  his  own  from  his 
lever  to  his  coucher,  at  table,  in  the  drive,  at  play, 
and  in  the  dance,  in  every  nook  and  corner  of  the 
Louvre  ;  to  those  burning  eyes  which  accompanied  the 
murmurs  and  cries  of  a  tragic  and  passionate  voice."  ^ 
His  reply  to  his  mother's  entreaties  was  to  fly  into  a 
violent  passion,  and  vow  that  no  one  save  Mile. 
Mancini  should  share  his  throne.  He  left  the  Queen 
plunged  in  the  depths  of  despair,  already  perhaps  seeing 
in  imagination  her  idolised  son  the  byword  of  Europe, 
the  Cardinal's  schemes  ruined,  France  and  Spain  once 
more  at  one  another's  throats,  and  she  herself,  like  her 
mother-in-law  Marie  de'  Medici,  condemned  to  wander 
in  exile  and  die  miserably  in  a  foreign  land. 

Meanwhile,  Mazarin  had  had  an  interview  with  his 
niece,  with  equally  fruitless  results.  The  girl  obstinately 
declined  to  renounce  her  love  and  her  ambition,  nor 
could  he  obtain  from  her  the  smallest  concession.  As 
he  was  on  the  point  of  starting  for  the  Pyrenees  to  meet 
the  Spanish  plenipotentiaries,  and  recognised  the  im- 
prudence of  leaving  Marie  behind  him  to  labour  for  an 
end  totally  opposed  to  his  own,  he  at  once  resolved  to 
remove  her  out  of  the  reach  of  the  infatuated  King,  and 
accordingly  informed  the  young  lady  that  it  was  his 
intention  to  send  her  and  her  sisters,  Hortense  and 
Marianne,  in  charge  of  Madame  de  Venel,  to  La 
Rochelle. 

Marie  does  not  appear  to  have  been  greatly  distressed 
at  this  announcement,  since  she  could  not  bring  herself 
to  believe  that  the  King  would  permit  the  Cardinal  to 
carry  out  his  resolve  ;  while,  when  Mazarin  requested 

1  ArvMe  Barine,  "  Princesses  et  grandes  dames  :  Marie  Mancini." 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  113 

the  Queen  to  break  the  news  to  her  son,  Anne  declined 
and  implored  him  not  to  separate  the  lovers,  as  she 
feared  that,  in  his  first  indignation  at  learning  of  the 
forthcoming  exile  of  his  mistress,  Louis  might  create 
some  scandal  which  would  put  an  end  to  the  negotia- 
tions for  his  marriage  with  the  Infanta. 

Mazarin,  however,  was  adamant,  and,  as  the  Queen 
refused  to  act  as  his  ambassador,  he  ordered  his  niece  to 
acquaint  Louis  XIV  with  his  decision.  The  announce- 
ment threw  the  young  monarch  into  the  last  excess  of 
grief  and  indignation.  He  vowed  that  no  power  on 
earth  should  separate  him  from  his  beloved  ;  he 
threatened  to  publicly  disgrace  the  Cardinal,  and  for 
three  whole  days  he  did  not  address  so  much  as  a  word 
to  his  mother.  Finding  the  Minister  inflexible,  he 
suddenly  changed  his  tone,  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of 
the  Queen  and  the  Cardinal,  and  besought  them  on  his 
knees  to  grant  the  dearest  wish  of  his  heart.  "  I  will 
marry  Mile,  de  Mancini,"  said  he  ;  *'  I  will  break  with 
the  Infanta  ;  I  will  do  anything  rather  than  see  her 
suffer  for  love  of  me." 

The  Cardinal  replied,  that  "  having  been  chosen  by 
the  late  King,  his  father,  and  since  by  the  Queen,  to 
assist  them  with  his  counsels,  and  having  hitherto 
served  them  with  inviolable  fidelity,  he  was  resolved  not 
to  abuse  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  suffering  him 
to  commit  an  act  so  contrary  to  his  reputation  ;  that  he 
was  master  of  his  niece,  and  would  stab  her  to  the  heart 
rather  than  elevate  her  by  so  great  an  act  of  treason."^ 

Such  was  the  King's  grief,  that  Anne  of  Austria,  in 

spite  of  the  horror  with  which  such  a  misalliance  inspired 

her,  could  not  refrain  from  begging  the  Cardinal  not  to 

insist  on  the  exile  of  his  niece.     But  Mazarin,  remem- 

1  "  Menioires  de  Madame  de  Motteville." 


114  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

bering  the  vast  interests  at  stake,  was  not  to  be  diverted 
from  his  purpose,  and  all  that  Louis  could  obtain  from 
him  was  a  formal  promise  to  grant  him  an  interview 
with  Marie  during  the  forthcoming  journey  of  the 
Court  to  Bayonne. 

On  leaving  the  Queen  and  the  Cardinal,  Louis 
hastened  to  Marie  Mancini's  apartments,  which  were 
situated  above  his  own,  to  acquaint  her  with  the  result 
of  the  interview.  He  did  not  conceal  from  her  that  he 
despaired  of  shaking  her  uncle's  resolution,  but  sought 
to  comfort  her  by  the  assurance  that  nothing  should 
induce  him  to  wed  the  Infanta  or  to  abandon  the  hope 
of  overcoming  the  opposition  of  his  mother  and 
Mazarin. 

Marie  was  but  partially  consoled  by  these  promises. 
"Why,"  she  asked,  "if  your  Majesty  is  so  determined, 
does  he  permit  this  order  of  exile  to  be  executed  ? 
Does  he  not  see  that,  if  I  am  once  sent  away,  the 
Cardinal  can  easily  send  me  further,  perhaps  even  to 
Italy,  according  to  his  good  pleasure,  and  separate  us 
for  ever?" 

The  King  endeavoured  to  reassure  her,  pointing  out 
that  the  promise  which  Mazarin  had  given  him  that 
they  should  meet  during  the  journey  of  the  Court  to 
the  South  was  a  proof  that  he  had  no  such  intention. 
To  these  assurances  he  added  the  most  tender  pro- 
testations, nor  did  he  leave  her  until  he  had  succeeded,  as 
he  imagined,  in  somewhat  allaying  her  fears. 

Left  to  herself,  the  unhappy  Marie  gave  full  vent  to 
the  despair  which  she  had  with  difficulty  restrained 
during  the  visit  of  the  King;  the  blind  confidence 
which  she  had  hitherto  reposed  in  him  was  beginning 
to  waver.  "  This  would  be,"  she  writes,  "  the  place 
to  speak  of  the  intentions  which  his  Majesty  is  said  to 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  115 

have  had  in  my  favour,  did  not  modesty  forbid  me,  and, 
for  the  same  reason,  I  shall  not  enlarge  upon  the 
obvious  displeasure  which  the  prince  felt  at  witnessing 
my  departure.  But  I  cannot  keep  silence  in  regard  to 
the  grief  which  this  separation  occasioned  me  ;  nothing 
in  my  life  affected  me  so  sensibly  ;  all  that  one  is  able 
to  suffer  appeared  to  me  as  nothing  in  comparison  with 
this  absenc,e  ;  there  was  not  a  moment  when  I  did  not 
desire  death  as  the  only  remedy  for  my  woes.  Briefly, 
I  was  in  a  condition  which  neither  what  I  have  just  said 
nor  the  strongest  expressions  could  possibly  explain." 

During  the  few  days'  grace  which  Mazarin  had 
allowed  his  niece,  the  King  did  not  quit  her  side,  seek- 
ing by  every  means  in  his  power  to  prove  to  her  that 
she  alone  occupied  his  thoughts  ;  and,  undeterred  by 
the  remonstrances  of  the  Queen  and  the  Cardinal,  lost 
no  opportunity  of  proclaiming  the  passion  and  grief 
which  the  coming  separation  occasioned  him.  A  chance 
of  testifying  to  the  lady  and  the  whole  Court  that  he 
was  very  far  from  abandoning  the  hope  of  seeing  her 
one  day  Queen  of  France  happened  to  present  itself  at 
this  moment,  and  the  infatuated  youth  hastened  to  take 
advantage  of  it. 

Henrietta  Maria,  the  widowed  Queen  of  Charles  I, 
then  residing  at  Saint-Germain,  desired  to  sell  a  magnifi- 
cent string  of  pearls,  in  order  to  add  to  her  meagre 
budget  (the  unfortunate  princess  subsisted  entirely  on 
Louis  XIV's  bounty,  and  had  been  compelled  to  part 
little  by  little  with  nearly  all  her  jewels).  Marie 
Mancini  had  greatly  admired  these  pearls  on  the  rare 
occasions  on  which  the  Queen  had  worn  them  at  Court, 
and  no  sooner  did  Louis  learn  that  they  were  for  sale, 
than  he  gave  orders  for  them  to  be  purchased,  to  present 
to  his  inamorata.    Marie  tells  us  that  she  at  first  refused 


ii6  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

to  accept  them,  sorrowfully  pointing  out  that  henceforth 
she  would  have  no  opportunity  of  wearing  them.  "  But 
his  Majesty  insisted  in  a  manner  so  pressing,  and  ac- 
companied his  request  with  words  so  full  of  promise," 
that  eventually  she  allowed  herself  to  be  persuaded. 

For  the  money  required  for  the  purchase  of  these 
pearls — 78,000  livres — Louis,  who  never  possessed  a 
sol  of  his  own,  had  to  apply  to  Mazarin,  who,  we  may 
presume,  gave  orders  for  its  payment  with  a  very  bad 
grace,  though  somewhat  consoled  by  the  reflection  that 
the  jewels  would  remain  in  his  family.  He  was  still 
less  pleased  when  his  Majesty  demanded  a  further  sum 
of  one  thousand  pistoles,  without  informing  him  of  the 
object  for  which  it  was  required.  The  Cardinal  sus- 
pected, and  with  good  reason,  that  the  money  was 
intended  for  the  payment  of  certain  secret  agents,  in 
the  event  of  his  placing  any  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the 
King  corresponding  with  his  niece.  However,  he  was 
unable  to  refuse  the  money. 

Three  days  before  the  departure  of  Marie  and  her 
sisters  for  La  Rochelle,  Mazarin  left  for  Vincennes, 
perhaps  to  be  out  of  the  way  when  the  final  leave- 
takings  should  take  place  ;  and  the  King  took  advantage 
of  his  absence  to  seek  an  interview  with  his  mother, 
who,  he  flattered  himself,  might  prove  more  amenable 
to  reason,  with  the  Cardinal  no  longer  at  hand  to 
support  her.     In  this,  however,  he  was  mistaken. 

"The  evening  preceding  the  day  of  Mile,  de  Man- 
cini's  departure,"  says  Madame  de  Motteville,  "the  King 
came  to  the  Queen  in  a  state  of  profound  depression. 
She  drew  him  aside  and  spoke  to  him  for  a  long  time  ; 
but,  as  the  sensibility  of  the  heart  which  loves  demands 
solitude,  the  Queen  herself  took  a  light  which  stood  on 
her  table,  and,  passing  from  her  chamber  into  her  bath- 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  117 

room,  requested  the  King  to  follow  her.  After  they 
had  been  about  an  hour  together,  the  King  came  out 
with  swollen  eyes,  and  the  Queen  followed  him,  so 
touched  by  the  state  in  which  she  was  obliged  to  place 
him,  that  it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  King's  suffering 
cost  her  much.  At  that  moment,  she  did  me  the 
honour  to  say  to  me,  in  a  low  tone  :  '  I  pity  the  King  ; 
he  is  both  loving  and  reasonable  ;  but  I  have  just  told 
him  that  I  am  certain  that  he  will  one  day  thank  me  for 
the  pain  I  have  caused  him  ;  and,  from  what  I  see  in 
him,  I  do  not  doubt  it.'" 

During  this  interview,  Louis  had  used  every  per- 
suasion to  gain  his  mother  over  to  his  side,  but  without 
success.  He  had,  however,  obtained  a  renewal  of  the 
promise  to  permit  him  to  see  Marie  again  during  the 
journey  to  the  South  ;  while,  before  leaving  for  Vin- 
cennes,  the  Cardinal,  perceiving  the  state  of  exasperation 
into  which  the  coming  separation  from  his  mistress  had 
thrown  his  young  sovereign,  and  judging  it  to  be  the 
wisest  course  to  humour  him  so  far  as  possible,  had 
consented  to  a  regular  correspondence  being  established 
between  the  lovers. 

From  the  Queen's  apartments,  Louis  passed  to  those 
of  Marie,  to  mingle  his  tears  with  hers,  and  to  renew 
the  vows  which  he  had  already  made  so  many  times. 
Hortense  Mancini  was  the  only  witness  of  this  inter- 
view, which  lasted  until  a  late  hour,  when  the  King 
returned  to  his  own  apartments,  "  mournful,  silent,  and 
without  speaking  to  any  one." 

The  following  morning,  22  June  1659,  he  again 
repaired  to  Marie's  apartments,  and  did  not  leave  her 
till  the  hour  fixed  for  her  departure,  when  he  conducted 
her  to  her  coach,  "  allowing  his  grief  to  be  perceived  by 
every  one."     It  was  then  that  Marie  Mancini  addressed 


ii8  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

to  her  royal  lover  those  well-known  words  so  full  of 
tenderness  and  of  reproach  :  "  SirCy  vous  etes  roi^  vous 
pleureZy  et  je  pars  !  " 

The  King  leant  towards  her  and  murmured  some 
words  in  her  ear  which  were  inaudible  to  those  standing 
by.  Whatever  they  were,  they  do  not  appear  to  have 
afforded  the  poor  girl  much  consolation,  for  she  threw 
herself  back  in  the  coach,  and,  sobbing  bitterly,  mur- 
mured to  Hortense  :    "  Ah  !  I  am  abandoned  !  " 

The  coach  drove  away,  and  Louis  XIV,  having  taken 
a  hurried  leave  of  his  mother,  entered  his  own  and  set 
off  for  Chantilly,  where  he  remained  for  some  days, 
"  in  order  to  recover  his  equanimity." 


CHAPTER   VII 

Departure  of  Mazarin  for  the  Pyrenees — Illness  of  Marie  Mancini — 
Angry  scene  between  Louis  XIV  and  Anne  of  Austria — The  King 
writes  every  day  to  Marie — Uneasiness  of  the  Cardinal — His  letter 
to  the  King  from  Poitiers — Arrival  of  Marie  and  her  sisters  at  La 
Rochelle — Marie  promises  to  submit  to  her  uncle's  orders — But  has 
no  such  intention — Letter  of  Mazarin  to  Louis  XIV  from  Montlieu 
— Violent  scene  between  the  King  and  the  Queen-Mother — Letter  of 
the  Cardinal  to  Louis  XIV  from  Libourne — Anxiety  of  Mazarin — 
His  outspoken  letter  to  the  King  from  Cadillac — Evasive  reply  of  his 
Majesty — Eloquent  letter  of  Mazarin  from  Saint-Jean-de-Luz — His 
anxiety  to  prevent  a  meeting  between  the  King  and  Marie  during  the 
journey  of  the  Court  to  the  South — His  letter  to  the  Queen — Madame 
de  Venel  ordered  by  Anne  of  Austria  to  bring  the  Cardinal's  nieces  to 
Saint- Jean-d'Angely. 

/^N  26  July,  the  King  and  Queen  visited  Mazarin  at 
^■^^  Vincennes,  for  a  final  conference  before  his  depar- 
ture for  the  Pyrenees,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  the 
Cardinal  started  for  Notre-Dame-de-Clery,  where  he 
intended  to  rejoin  his  nieces  and  accompany  them  part 
of  the  way  to  La  Rochelle. 

On  his  arrival,  he  found  Marie  in  a  high  fever,  the 
result  of  the  violent  emotion  which  she  had  lately 
undergone,  and,  for  some  days,  the  poor  girl's  condition 
was  such  as  to  cause  her  relatives  no  little  uneasiness. 
The  King,  who  had  returned  to  his  solitude  at  Chantilly, 
was  in  ignorance  of  the  illness  of  his  mistress,  and  was, 
in  consequence,  greatly  surprised  at  receiving  no  reply 
to  the  long  and  tender  letters  which  he  daily  despatched 
to   her.     At   length,  however,   the  Comte  de  Vivonne, 

119 


I20  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

who,  it  had  been  arranged,  was  to  act  as  intermediary  in 
the  event  of  Marie  not  being  able  to  address  herself 
directly  to  the  King,  received  warning  of  the  young 
lady's  plight  from  one  of  her  waiting-women,  and  com- 
municated the  news  to  his  Majesty.  Louis  at  once 
started  for  Fontainebleau,  where  the  Court  then  was, 
and  despatched  one  of  his  Musketeers  to  Notre-Dame- 
de-Clery,  charged  with  a  letter  for  Mazarin,  commanding 
him  to  treat  his  niece  with  every  possible  consideration 
and  kindness,  and  to  inform  him  immediately  of  her 
state  of  health,  and  a  second  for  Marie,  the  contents  of 
which  we  can  well  imagine.  All  the  Court  knew  of  the 
departure  of  the  Musketeer,  and  the  Queen,  whom  his 
Majesty  had  greeted  on  his  arrival  with  icy  coldness, 
ventured  to  inquire  of  her  son  what  news  he  had  of 
Mile.  Mancini.  Upon  which  the  King  "flew  into  a 
violent  passion,  crying  out  in  a  voice  so  loud  that  he 
could  be  heard  by  those  in  the  adjoining  apartment,  that 
it  was  useless  to  ask  news  about  those  whom  one 
intended  to  kill." 

To  his  Majesty's  letter,  the  Cardinal  replied  that  his 
niece  "  had  had  a  little  fever,  through  want  of  sleep, 
but  that  she  was  now  in  good  health  and  covered  with 
confusion  at  the  honour  which  you  have  done  her." 
"I  love  her  as  I  should,"  he  continues,  "and  I  shall 
give  her  proof  of  it  as  I  ought,  in  response  to  the 
affection  which  she  shows  for  me,  and  her  resignation 
to  what  I  desire  of  her,  which  will  always  be  very  greatly 
to  her  advantage."  To  the  Queen,  Mazarin  wrote  with 
a  good  deal  more  candour  :  "  Marie  is  more  afllicted  than 
I  can  express,  but  she  shows  herself  entirely  resigned  to 
my  wishes,  and  that  she  will  never  have  any  others." 

Other  messengers,  bearing  letters  from  the  lovelorn 
prince — "  all  very  long  and  very  tender,"  the  lady  tells 


FIVE  FAIR   SISTERS  121 

us — continued  to  follow  the  Cardinal  and  his  nieces  on 
their  journey  southwards.  At  Chambord,  a  Musketeer 
overtook  them  with  five  letters  for  Marie,  and  another 
for  Mazarin.  An  hour  later,  came  yet  another  epistle, 
accompanied  by  a  "  speaking  portrait "  of  his  Majesty 
for  Mile.  Mancini,  who  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal  from 
her  uncle  the  joy  which  the  gift  occasioned  her.  In 
short,  the  letters  rained  upon  them  day  and  night  in  a 
perfect  deluge,  to  the  intense  annoyance  of  the  Cardinal, 
who,  in  authorizing  a  correspondence  between  the  King 
and  his  niece,  had  not  bargained  for  anything  of  this 
nature,  and  began  to  fear  that,  in  separating  the  lovers, 
he  had  only  added  fuel  to  the  flame. 

Not  only  did  the  Cardinal  find  the  letters  too 
numerous,  but  the  method  chosen  by  the  King  of  com- 
municating with  his  beloved,  by  means  of  special 
couriers,  was  very  far  from  commending  itself  to  him. 
In  the  first  place,  he  was  advised  that  it  had  become  the 
universal  topic  of  conversation  at  the  Court,  which 
meant  that  it  must  sooner  or  later  reach  Madrid.  In 
the  second,  the  system  deprived  him  of  all  chance  of 
surveillance,  and  prevented  him  from  obtaining,  through 
the  good  offices  of  his  faithful  ally,  Madame  de  Venel, 
any  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  bulky  epistles  he 
saw  arriving.  He,  accordingly,  begged  his  Majesty  to 
abstain  from  direct  communication  with  his  niece,  and 
to  send  his  letters  by  the  ordinary  Court  couriers,  under 
cover  to  Colbert,  to  be  forwarded  by  him  to  his  relative 
Colbert  de  Terron,  Governor  of  La  Rochelle,  who,  like 
the  future  Comptroller-General,  was  believed  to  be 
devoted  to  his  Eminence's  interests. 

On  reaching  Poitiers,  Mazarin  parted  from  his  nieces, 
the  latter  continuing  their  journey  to  La  Rochelle, 
while  the  Cardinal  took  the  road  to  Bayonne.     Before 


122  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

quitting  Poitiers,  however,  Mazarin  wrote  to  the  King 
as  follows  : — 

Mazarin  to  Louis  XIV 

"...  The  confidante  [the  Queen]  has  written  to 
inform  me  of  the  state  in  which  she  found  you,  and  I 
am  in  despair,  for  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  you 
remedy  it,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  be  unhappy,  and  to 
make  all  your  faithful  servants  die  of  grief.  The  means 
which  you  employ  are  by  no  means  calculated  to  cure 
you,  and,  unless  you  resolve  in  earnest  to  alter  your 
conduct,  your  malady  will  grow  worse  and  worse.  I 
conjure  you  by  your  glory,  by  your  honour,  by  your 
duty  towards  God,  by  the  welfare  of  your  kingdom, 
and  by  everything  which  is  able  to  affect  you,  to  labour 
strenuously  to  master  yourself,  and  not  to  make  the 
journey  to  Bayonne  unwillingly ;  for,  briefly,  you  will  be 
guilty  before  God  and  before  men  if  you  go  not  thither 
with  the  purpose  with  which  you  ought  to  go,  by  reason, 
by  honour,  and  by  interest.  I  trust  that  the  person  you 
wot  of  (Marie  Mancini)  will  contribute  materially  to 
that  end,  since  I  have  spoken  to  her  in  the  terms  which 
were  necessary  to  dispose  her  so  to  do."^ 

This  urgent  letter  did  not  produce  the  smallest  effect 
upon  the  King.  He  sent,  as  Mazarin  had  requested, 
letters  by  the  ordinary  couriers  ;  but  this  did  not  pre- 
vent him  from  despatching  to  Marie  other  messengers, 
bearing  epistles  not  less  voluminous  than  those  entrusted 
to  the  couriers  of  the  Court,  and,  "  instead  of  making 

1  This  and  the  other  letters  of  Mazarin  to  Louis  XIV,  Anne  of 
Austria,  and  Madame  de  Venel  which  ^appear  in  this  volume  are  in  the 
Archives  of  the  Ministere  des  Affaires  Etrang^res  and  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale,  and  have  been  published,  wholly  or  in  part,  in  several  works, 
notably  by  M.  Chantelauze,  in  his  "  Louis  XIV  et  Marie  Mancini." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  123 

use  of  the  remedies  which  might  be  able  to  moderate 
his  passion,  omitted  nothing  which  might  serve  to 
augment  it,"^  so  that  the  poor  Queen  wrote  to  the 
Cardinal  that  she  was  in  the  last  stage  of  anxiety  as 
to  the  ultimate  issue  of  the  affair.  As  for  Marie, 
the  daily  arrival  of  the  welcome  epistles  from  Fon- 
tainebleau  had  naturally  revived  the  hopes  that  her 
uncle's  determined  action  had  temporarily  crushed. 
"  There  are  scarcely  any  misfortunes,"  she  writes  in  her 
"  Memoires,"  "  which  do  not  flatter  themselves  by  some 
hope  to  mitigate  their  grief.  I  did  not  refuse  this 
remedy  to  mine,  when  I  saw  that  his  Majesty  thought 
of  nothing  but  despatching  couriers  to  me  charged  with 
five  letters  of  several  pages  ;  and,  taking  into  considera- 
tion the  fact  that  the  peace  was  not  yet  concluded,  and  that 
there  were  great  obstacles  to  overcome,  I  dared  sometimes 
to  promise  myself  that  it  would  not  be  concluded." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that  Marie's  letters 
were  not  less  numerous  and  voluminous  than  those  of 
the  King,  and,  inspired  as  they  were  by  genuine  de- 
votion, contributed  to  keep  alive  a  passion  of  which 
the  roots  were  too  deep  to  be  easily  eradicated.  It  is 
unfortunate,  indeed,  that  not  even  one  of  these  letters 
has  been  preserved,  for  they  must  have  been  well  worth 
reading. 

The  faithful  Madame  de  Venel  did  not  fail  to  acquaint 
the  Cardinal  with  the  continuance  of  the  correspondence. 
"  Matters,"  she  writes,  "  seem  to  me  a  little  worse  than 
they  seemed  to  you,  and  it  would  perhaps  be  not  with- 
out advantage  to  the  service  of  your  Eminence,  if  it 
were  possible  to  examine  the  contents  of  the  first 
packet  despatched  from  La  Rochelle."  With  character- 
istic discretion,  the  lady  begs  her  employer  not  to  make 

^   Mazarin  to  the  Queen,  July  1659. 


124  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

any  reply  to  this  portion  of  her  letter,  and  to  burn  it  so 
soon  as  read. 

At  the  same  time,  Mazarin  was  receiving  very  dis- 
quieting reports  from  Fontainebleau  In  regard  to  the 
health  of  the  King,  whom  his  chief  physician,  Vallot, 
declared  to  be  "  suffering  from  fever  and  insomnia,  and 
to  be  growing  sensibly  thinner."  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Cardinal's  dme  damnee^  Bartet,  reported  that  Louis 
appeared  to  be  less  incensed  against  his  mother,  and  that 
"  it  was  hoped  that  the  deplorable  effects  produced  on 
his  Majesty's  mind  as  regards  the  Queen  tended  to 
diminish." 

The  Cardinal's  nieces  and  th.Q.\v  gouvernante  arrived  at 
La  Rochelle  on  1 1  July,  and  were  received  as  though 
they  had  been  Princesses  of  the  Blood  ;  cannon  fired 
salutes,  the  municipal  authorities  waited  upon  them  to 
pay  their  respects,  and  at  night  the  town  was  illumin- 
ated. A  day  or  two  after  their  arrival,  Marie  wrote 
to  her  uncle  a  letter,  in  which  she  did  not  attempt  to 
conceal  her  weakness,  but  promised  submission  to  his 
wishes.  "  I  have  seen,  by  what  you  have  written  and 
by  what  Madame  de  Venel  has  received,  your  orders 
to  me  to  subordinate  my  feelings  to  yours  ;  that  will 
not  be  an  easy  matter.  I  recognise  always  more  fully 
my  weakness,  notwithstanding  which,  I  have  no  other 
desire  than  to  do  all  my  life  all  what  you  may  command 
me,  and  what  I  shall  see  is  likely  to  please  you.  It  will 
not  be  accomplished  without  great  difficulty,  for  the 
thought  causes  me  furious  suffering." 

This  letter  was  quickly  followed  by  another,  in  which 
she  promises  to  cease  writing  to  "  the  person  he  wots 
of  (the  King),  if  such  were  his  desire,"  and  concludes 
by  declaring  that  she  is  *'  resolved  to  obey  him  and  to 
keep  all  her  life  the  quality  of  his  humble  servant." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  125 

These  assurances  appear  to  have  been  intended  to 
throw  the  Cardinal  off  his  guard.  The  King  had  not 
failed  to  recommend  his  inamorata  to  take  measures  to 
secure  the  good-will  of  all  those  about  her  who  might 
prove  of  service  to  her,  "  even  engaging  her  to  promise 
them  in  his  name  whatsoever  she  might  judge  necessary 
to  gain  them  over  to  their  cause "  ;  and,  while  the 
young  lady,  was  assuring  her  uncle  of  her  desire  to 
obey  him  in  all  things,  she  was  busily  employed  in 
executing  his  Majesty's  instructions.  Thus  a  secret 
struggle  was  going  on  between  the  Cardinal  and  Marie; 
the  one  endeavouring  to  make  himself  acquainted  with 
the  contents  of  the  lovers'  correspondence,  the  other 
striving  to  evade  the  vigilance  of  the  Argus-eyed  spies 
placed  around  her  by  her  uncle. 

Under  date  12  July,  we  find  the  chief  of  these, 
Madame  de  Venel,  informing  the  Cardinal  that  she 
"  has  experienced  great  difficulty  in  having  Mademoi- 
selle's letter  enclosed  as  his  Eminence  had  instructed 
her."  "  She  argues  the  matter  warmly,"  the  gouvernante 
continues,  "  and  says  that  she  cannot  conceive  why, 
when  the  letters  can  be  sent  direct,  I  cause  them  to  be 
despatched  by  a  circuitous  route.  However,  she  gave 
it  to  me,  and  I  sent  it  to  M.  Colbert." 

But,  if  Marie  consented  to  entrust  some  of  her  letters 
to  the  King  to  the  care  of  the  Cardinal's  agents,  his 
Eminence  was  not  long  in  ascertaining  that  these  were 
very  far  from  being  the  only  ones  she  despatched  to 
Fontainebleau,  and  that  nothing  else  was  talked  of  at 
the  Court  but  the  arrival  and  departure  of  the  mes- 
sengers of  love.  In  great  alarm,  he  wrote  to  the  King, 
urging  him  in  the  strongest  terms  to  put  an  end  to  the 
correspondence. 


126  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Mazarin  to  the  Kim. 


'<b' 


"  Montlieu,  12  July  1659. 

"  You  will  find  enclosed  a  packet  which  has  been 
addressed  to  me  at  a  place  near  La  Rochelle,  and  you 
will  permit  me  to  tell  you,  with  the  respect  and  sub- 
mission that  I  owe  you,  that,  although  1  have  always 
carried  my  complacency  for  what  you  have  desired  to 
the  last  extreme,  when  I  perceived  it  possible  to  do  so 
without  prejudice  to  your  service  and  glory,  neverthe- 
less, my  reputation  is  at  stake,  and  also  that  of  a  person 
whom  you  honour  with  your  kindness  [Marie  Mancini], 
and  who  will  assuredly  receive  an  irreparable  injury, 
if  you  have  not  the  goodness  to  break  off  the  corre- 
spondence which  you  carry  on  with  her  with  so  much 
publicity.  I  conjure  you  to  do  so,  and,  although,  being 
as  you  are  the  most  just  and  the  most  reasonable  of 
all  men,  1  ought  not  to  doubt  that,  from  this  motive 
alone,  you  will  accord  me  this  favour,  I  desire,  notwith- 
standing, to  receive  it  as  the  greatest  recompense  you 
are  able  to  give  me  for  the  small  services  that  I  have  had 
the  happiness  to  render  you  ;  and  I  venture  also  to  say 
that  you  owe  it,  too,  to  yourself  at  the  present  juncture, 
when  you  are  on  the  eve  of  undertaking  a  journey  for 
an  object  which  is  not  in  accord  with  the  aforesaid 
correspondence,  which  does  you  more  injury  than  if  the 
person  in  question  were  at  the  Court,  and  you  were 
frequenting  her  society,  as  you  did  in  Paris. 

"  If  you  were  aware  of  how  people  speak  of  it  in  the 
aforesaid  place,  and  if  you  knew  what  was  said  about  it 
at  Fontainebleau  and  among  the  persons  who  accompany 
me,  you  would  not  be  annoyed  at  my  supplications,  and 
you  would  not  wait  for  them  to  give  orders  concern- 
ing it. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  127 

"  I  have  also  a  number  of  advices  which  have  reached 
me  from  Flanders,  Germany,  and  other  places,  which 
speak  of  all  this  with  a  freedom  which  has  astonished 
me.  And,  as  I  desire  your  credit  more  than  anything 
which  can  concern  myself,  I  am  not  able  to  refrain 
from  acquainting  you  with  all  these  particulars,  in  order 
that,  being  free  to  reflect  upon  them,  you  may  be  free  to 
do  that  which  I  beg  of  you  very  humbly.  I  ask  your 
pardon,  if  I  press  you  in  a  matter  which  will  not  perhaps 
be  at  first  to  your  liking,  and  to  believe  that  I  would 
willingly  consent  to  give  my  life  to  have  the  happiness 
of  never  proposing  to  you  anything  but  agreeable  things 
which  were  consistent  with  decorum  and  your  private 
reputation,  which  I  assuredly  desire  more  than  life. 

"  I  beg  you  to  confer  with  the  confidante  [the  Queen] 
concerning  this  matter,  and  to  believe  me  the  most 
devoted  of  your  servants." 

Louis  XIV  had  hitherto  received  the  Cardinal's  letters 
without  testifying  any  resentment.  But  it  was  other- 
wise with  those  which  Mazarin  addressed  to  the  Queen, 
and  which  the  latter  had  the  imprudence  to  read  to  him. 
In  one  of  these,  the  Cardinal  indulged  in  some  very 
plain  speaking  about  his  niece,  whom  he  accused  of 
openly  boasting  of  the  favour  of  the  King,  and  added 
that  she  was  altogether  unworthy  of  the  young  sove- 
reign's affection.  On  hearing  this,  Louis  quite  lost  his 
temper,  and  upbraided  his  mother  in  the  most  violent 
manner,  accusing  her  of  having  embittered  the  Cardinal's 
mind  against  his  niece,  and  vowing  that  he  would  never 
forgive  her,  since,  previous  to  Marie's  departure  for 
La  Rochelle,  she  had  promised  the  contrary.  Then  he 
wrote  to  Mazarin  in  terms  more  measured,  but  very 
firm,  informing  him  that  he  himself  was  the  best  judge 


128  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

of  what  persons  were  worthy  of  his  affection,  and  stood 
in  need  of  no  lesson  from  him,  although  he  was  willing 
to  believe  that  the  Minister  had  spoken  entirely  in  his 
(the  King's)  interest. 

To  this  letter,  which  caused  him  much  uneasiness, 
the  Cardinal  replied  at  once  and  sought  to  excuse 
himself. 

Mazarin  to  the  King. 

"Libourne,  14  July  1659. 

"  Magalotti  has  delivered  to  me  your  letter  of  the 
first  of  this  month,  and  I  have  been  surprised  at  what 
you  write  me  concerning  the  person  [Marie]  about 
whom  I  have  written  to  the  confidante  [the  Queen]  ; 
for  I  well  understand  that  you  know  her,  and  that  you 
are  incapable  of  bestowing  your  affection  easily  on 
persons  undeserving  of  it.  Moreover,  I  not  only 
thought  that  possible,  but  I  believed  that  they  boasted 
about  it,  which  is  certainly  the  case  ;  and  it  was  essential 
to  your  reputation  that  this  report  should  not  be 
circulated,  and  that  every  one  should  be  deceived. 
Nevertheless,  I  am  greatly  beholden  to  you  for  the 
way  in  which  you  write  to  me  regarding  this  matter, 
assuring  you  that  I  am  touched  as  I  ought  to  be  by  all 
the  kindness  that  it  pleases  you  to  bestow  on  me. 

"The  confidante  [the  Queen]  informs  me,  by  her  letter 
of  the  I  St,  that  she  has  not  had  reason  to  be  satisfied 
with  you  on  a  certain  occasion,  and  recalls  what  she 
wrote  to  me  the  preceding  day.  I  have  not  yet  re- 
ceived that  letter,  and  I  am  suffering  the  greatest 
anxiety  conceivable,  not  knowing  what  it  contains,  and 
being  in  despair  at  the  slight  which  the  confidante 
thinks  she  has  received,  although  I  cannot  imagine  that 
the  matter  is  of   importance.      For,  if  such  were   the 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  129 

case,  even  though  I  might  die  on  the  way,  I  should 
take  post  to  repair  to  the  place  where  you  are.  But  I 
do  not  understand  how  that  can  be,  since  you  have  not 
done  me  the  honour  to  write  to  me  about  it.  I  shall 
pass  an  anxious  time  until  I  receive  an  explanation. 

"  I  send  you  a  note,  wherein  I  am  instructing  Colbert 
to  pay  to  Blouin^  one  thousand  pistoles,  or  eleven 
thousand  livres.  He  will  find  this  sum,  and  larger 
sums,  should  you  require  them  ;  and  you  must  know 
once  for  all  that,  since  I  have  nothing  which  is  not 
yours,  you  may  dispose  of  what  belongs  to  me  up  to 
the  last  sol  ;  and  you  cannot  do  anything  which  could 
afford  me  greater  pleasure." 

The  Queen's  delayed  letter  reached  Mazarin,  at  Cadil- 
lac, on  16  July.  It  recounted  the  violent  scene  which 
her  Majesty  had  had  with  Louis  XIV,  and  threw  the 
Cardinal  into  the  last  stage  of  anxiety.  He  replied 
immediately  as  follows  : — 

Mazarin  to  the  Queen. 

"Cadillac,  16  July   1659. 

"  I  have  received,  by  the  ordinary  courier,  your  letter 
of  the  9th,  concerning  which  I  wrote  to  you.  I  suffer 
much  uneasiness,  but  its  contents  have  given  me  still 
more,  and  to  such  a  degree  that  I  thought  of  setting  out 
to  return ;  and  I  believe  that  I  should  have  done  so,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  scandal  and  the  consequences  that  a 
resolution  of  such  importance  would  have  produced  at 
the  present  juncture. 

"  I  fear  to  lose  my  reason,  for  I  can  neither  eat  nor 
sleep,  and  I  am  overwhelmed  by  grief  and  anxiety  at  a 
time  when  I  am  greatly  in  need  of  tranquillity." 

1  First  valet-de-chambre  to  the  King. 


I30  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

The  poor  Cardinal  did  not  exaggerate  the  condition 
into  which  the  Queen's  news  had  thrown  him.  His 
anxiety,  indeed,  brought  on  a  violent  attack  of  gout, 
complicated  by  gravel,  which  necessitated  his  remaining 
At  Cadillac  for  some  days  longer,  and  the  consequent 
Dostponement  of  the  Conferences  with  the  Spanish  pleni- 
potentiaries, which  were  to  have  opened  on  20  July. 

On  the  same  day  on  which  he  wrote  to  the  Queen, 
Mazarin  also  despatched  a  long  and  urgent  letter  to 
Louis  XIV,  which  he  entrusted  to  one  of  his  own 
guards,  with  orders  to  travel  at  the  utmost  speed  and  to 
bring  back  the  King's  reply  without  the  delay  of  a 
moment.  Never  did  subject,  never  did  Minister,  ad- 
dress to  his  sovereign  language  more  eloquent,  more 
outspoken,  or  more  courageous. 

Mazarin  to  the  King. 

"Cadillac,  16  July  1 659. 

*',...  Even  if  you  had  not  commanded  me  so 
precisely  as  you  have  done  to  speak  to  you  with  all 
freedom,  where  your  service  was  concerned,  I  should 
not  fail  to  do  so  at  this  juncture,  although  I  knew  that 
it  would  be  distasteful  to  you,  and  that  I  should  run  the 
risk  of  losing  your  good  graces. 

"I  have  seen  what  the  confidante  [the  Queen]  has 
written  me  touching  your  displeasure  and  the  way  in 
which  you  have  expressed  it  to  her.  But,  since  I  know 
that  her  affection  for  you  is  proof  against  everything, 
and  that  your  natural  goodness,  as  well  as  your  duty, 
gives  you  much  uneasiness,  so  soon  as  you  are  aware 
of  having  displeased  her,  and  that  you  return  at  once 
to  testify  to  her  the  utmost  tenderness,  that  will  not 
occasion  me  much  distress.     But  I  confess  to  you  that  I 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  131 

am  extremely  grieved  to  learn,  from  the  advices  which 
are  received  from  all  quarters,  of  the  manner  in  which 
people  speak  of  you,  at  a  time  when  you  have  done  me 
the  honour  to  announce  to  me  that  you  were  resolved  to 
devote  yourself  with  extraordinary  application  to  affairs, 
and  to  set  earnestly  to  work  to  become  in  all  things  the 
greatest  king  in  the  world. 

"Letters  from  Paris,  Flanders,  and  elsewhere  ad- 
vise me  that  you  are  no  longer  recognisable  since  my 
departure,  and  that  not  because  of  me,  but  on  account  of 
some  one  who  belongs  to  me  [Marie  Mancini]  ;  that  you 
have  entered  into  engagements  which  will  prevent  you 
giving  peace  to  all  Christendom  and  rendering  your 
State  and  your  subjects  happy  by  your  marriage,  and 
that  if,  to  avoid  so  great  a  calamity,  you  pass  on  to 
make  it,  the  person  you  espouse  will  be  most  miserable, 
and  that  through  no  fault  of  her  own. 

"  It  is  said  (and  that  is  confirmed  by  letters  from  the 
Court  to  persons  in  my  suite)  ....  that  you  are  always 
shut  up  to  write  to  the  person  you  love,  and  that  you 
waste  more  time  in  that  way  than  you  did  in  conversing 
with  her  when  she  was  at  Court.  It  is  further  said  that 
I  approve  of  this  and  connive  at  it,  in  order  to  satisfy 
my  ambition  and  hinder  the  peace. 

"  It  is  said  that  you  are  at  variance  with  the  Queen, 
and  even  those  who  write  in  the  mildest  terms  say  that 
you  avoid  her  as  much  as  possible. 

*'  I  find,  moreover,  that  the  consent  I  gave,  at  your 
earnest  request,  to  an  occasional  interchange  of  news 
between  yourself  and  this  person  has  ended  in  a  con- 
tinual commerce  of  long  letters  ;  that,  in  fact,  you  write 
to  her  every  day  and  receive  a  reply.  And  when  cour- 
iers are  wanting,  the  first  who  sets  out  is  charged  with 
as  many  letters  as  days  have  elapsed  since  you  were  able 


132  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

to  despatch  them,  which  cannot  be  without  scandal,  and 
I  may  say  without  some  injury,  to  this  person's  reputa- 
tion and  mine. 

"  What  is  worse,  is  that  I  have  recognised,  by  the 
answers  which  this  person  has  made  me  when  I  have 
sincerely  wished  to  advise  her  for  her  good,  and  by  the 
advices  that  I  have  had  from  La  Rochelle,  that  every  day 
you  omit  nothing  to  entangle  her  more  and  more, assuring 
her  that  your  intentions  are  to  do  things  for  her  which 
ought  not  to  be,  and  which  no  man  of  your  station 
could  wish  to  do,  and  which,  in  short,  are,  for  several 
reasons,  impossible. 

"...  God  has  established  kings  (after  matters  which 
concern  religion,  for  the  maintenance  whereof  they 
ought  to  use  every  possible  means)  to  watch  over  the 
welfare,  security,  and  repose  of  their  subjects,  and  not 
to  sacrifice  that  welfare  and  repose  to  their  private 
passions  ;  and  when  there  have  appeared  persons  so 
unhappy  as  to  oblige,  by  their  conduct,  the  divine 
Providence  to  abandon  them,  histories  are  full  of  the 
revolutions  and  miseries  they  have  drawn  upon  their 
persons  and  States. 

"  And,  therefore,  I  solemnly  warn  you  not  to  hesitate 
any  longer,  for  though,  in  a  certain  sense,  you  are  the 
master  to  do  as  you  please,  yet  must  you  give  account 
of  your  actions  to  God  for  the  saving  of  your  soul,  and 
to  the  world  for  the  saving  of  your  credit  and  reputa- 
tion. .  ,  ,  If  your  subjects  and  State  were  so  unhappy 
that  you  did  not  take  the  resolution  which  you  ought, 
nothing  in  the  world  could  prevent  them  from  fall- 
ing into  greater  evils  than  they  have  yet  suffered, 
and  all  Christendom  with  them.  And  I  can  assure  you, 
from  certain  knowledge,  that  the  Prince  de  Cond^  and 
many    others    are   watching   closely    to    see    what    will 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  133 

come  of  this  matter,  hoping,  if  things  fall  out  in  accord- 
ance with  their  wishes,  to  derive  great  advantage  from 
the  plausible  pretext  which  you  will  give  them,  on 
account  of  which  the  said  prince  will  have  no  doubt 
about  securing  the  support  of  all  the  Parliaments,  the 
great  personages,  and  the  nobility  of  the  realm,  nay,  all 
your  subjects  generally  ;  and,  moreover,  will  not  fail  to 
loudly  proclaim  that  I  have  been  the  counsellor  and  the 
solicitor  of  all  that  you  have  done. 

"  I  am  also  obliged  to  tell  you,  with  the  same  frank- 
ness, that,  if  you  do  not  alter  without  any  delay  your 
conduct,  and  do  not  master  the  passion  which  at  present 
dominates  you,  so  that  every  one  sees  that  not  only 
will  the  projected  marriage  be  accomplished,  but  that 
you  do  it  willingly,  and  in  the  hope  that  it  will  prove 
happy,  as  well  as  the  person  you  will  espouse,  it  is  im- 
possible that  the  aversion  you  entertain  towards  it,  and 
the  ill-treatment  the  Infanta  is  likely  to  receive,  will  not 
be  known  in  Spain,  since,  on  the  eve  of  your  marriage, 
you  do  nothing  to  prevent  it  being  seen,  in  a  thousand 
ways,  that  all  your  thoughts  and  affections  are  else- 
where. In  which  event,  I  hold  it  certain  that  they 
will  take  at  Madrid  the  same  resolutions  which  we 
ourselves  should  take  in  a  like  case  to  this.  That  is 
why  I  implore  you  to  consider  what  blessing  you  can 
expect  from  God  and  men  if,  for  this  cause,  we  are  com- 
pelled to  recommence  the  most  sanguinary  war  which 
has  ever  been  seen,  with  as  much  prejudice  as  we  have 
reaped  advantages  in  the  past,  and  as  God  has  favoured 
your  cause  and  the  pious  intentions  which  you  and  the 
Queen  have  always  had. 

"  I  point  all  this  out  to  you  the  more  plainly,  because 
Pimentel,  during  the  journey,  observed  to  me,  on  two  or 
three  occasions,  that  you  were  too  much  in  love  to  wish 


134  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

to  marry  so  soon,  and  that  people  had  written  to  him 
the  same  thing  from  Flanders,  in  terms  which  occasioned 
him  much  uneasiness. 

"  I  conclude  all  this  discourse  by  declaring  to  you 
that,  if  I  find  not,  by  the  answer  which  I  implore  you 
to  make  me  with  all  speed,  that  there  is  room  for 
hope  that  you  are  taking,  without  reservation,  the  path 
that  is  necessary  for  your  own  welfare,  for  your  honour, 
and  for  the  preservation  of  your  kingdom,  I  have  no 
other  course  open  to  me,  in  order  to  give  you  this  last 
mark  of  my  fidelity  and  of  my  zeal  for  your  service, 
than  to  sacrifice  myself,  and,  after  giving  into  your 
hands  all  the  benefits  with  which  it  has  pleased  the  late 
King,  yourself,  and  the  Queen  to  overwhelm  me,  to 
embark,  with  my  family,  to  go  and  pass  the  remainder 
of  my  days  in  some  corner  of  Italy,  and  to  pray  to  God 
that  this  remedy  which  I  shall  have  applied  to  your 
malady  may  bring  about  the  cure  which  I  desire  above 
all  things  in  the  world,  being  able  to  say,  without 
exaggeration  and  without  using  the  terms  of  submission 
and  respect  I  owe  you,  that  there  is  no  affection  com- 
parable to  that  which  I  have  for  you,  and  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  me  to  prevent  myself  dying  of 
grief,  should  I  see  you  do  anything  which  may  blacken 
your  reputation  and  expose  your  person  and  your  State. 

"  I  believe  you  know  me  well  enough  to  credit  that 
what  I  write  comes  from  the  depths  of  my  heart,  and 
that  nothing  can  prevent  me  from  turning  back  and 
carrying  out  the  resolution  of  which  I  have  just  spoken 
to  you,  if  I  see  not,  by  the  answer  that  you  will  make 
me  and  by  your  future  conduct,  that  you  have  mastered 
the  passion  to  which  you  are  at  present  enslaved.  .  .  ." 

While    awaiting    the    King's    answer,    the    unhappy 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  135 

Cardinal  received  several  alarming  letters  from  Madame 
de  Venel,  in  one  of  which  she  informed  him  that  a 
special  courier  had  just  arrived  from  his  Majesty,  with 
a  letter  for  Mile.  Mancini,  after  perusing  which  the 
young  lady  had  informed  her  waiting-women  that  the 
King  was  coming  to  visit  her  on  his  way  to  Bayonne. 

Louis  XIV's  reply  to  the  letter  from  Cadillac,  together 
with  two  Qther  letters,  written  respectively  on  the  i6th 
and  20th  inst.,  reached  Mazarin  at  Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 
and  occasioned  him  more  uneasiness  than  ever.  The 
young  monarch  skilfully  avoided  giving  a  categorical 
answer  to  the  Minister's  demand — that  is  to  say,  to  break 
off  his  relations  with  Marie  ;  but  he  expressed  his 
willingness  to  follow  in  all  things  the  counsels  of  the 
Queen.  The  Queen,  it  would  appear,  alarmed  by  the 
change  in  her  son's  health  and  his  unhappiness,  no 
longer  supported  Mazarin  as  loyally  as  heretofore,  and 
Louis  had  good  hopes  of  ultimately  bending  her  to  his 
will. 

Here  is  the  reply  which  the  Cardinal  made  to  the 
King's  letters. 

Mazarin  to  the  King. 

"  Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  27  July  1659. 

"  My  pain  giving  me  a  short  respite,  I  take  up  my 
pen  to  inform  you  that  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letters  of 
the  1 6th,  20th,  and  22nd  of  this  month,  among  which  is 
the  reply  that  you  have  had  the  goodness  to  make  me  to 
the  despatch  which  I  wrote  you  from  Cadillac.  You  do 
me  the  great  honour  to  tell  me  that  you  are  persuaded 
that  I  desire  nothing  but  your  credit  and  the  welfare  of 
your  State,  and  that,  in  consequence,  you  are  more  than 
ever  resolved  to  follow  my  counsels  ;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  you  do  the  contrary.     I  begged  you  to  write  no 


136  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

more  to  La  Rochelle,  and  you  replied  that  that  would  be 
too  hard  for  you,  and  that  the  confidante  [the  Queen] 
had  approved  your  reasons  ;  so  that  I  must  conclude 
that  I  have  influence  over  your  mind,  and  that  you  have 
the  goodness  to  follow  my  counsel,  provided  it  happens 
to  accord  with  your  own  wishes. 

"  You  only  speak  now  about  following  those  of  the 
confidante,  because,  in  some  fashion,  they  are  in  accord 
with  your  own  ;  and,  without  entering  into  any  further 
explanation  in  regard  to  my  letter  from  Cadillac,  you 
assure  me  beyond  measure  of  your  benevolence  and  of 
your  desire  to  defer  to  my  counsels,  but  without  telling 
me  anything  definite  of  your  wishes  concerning  the 
matters  on  which  I  have  to  negotiate  with  Don  Luis 
[de  Haro].  You  conclude  by  saying  that  you  will  not 
fail  to  follow  the  counsels  of  the  confidante,  and  that 
you  have  no  doubt  that  this  will  meet  with  my  approval ; 
that  is  called,  in  good  French,  evading  the  question  and 
giving  change.  You  are  the  master  of  your  conduct, 
but  you  cannot  compel  me  to  approve  of  it,  when  I 
know  for  certain  that  it  is  prejudicial  to  your  honour,  to 
the  welfare  of  your  State,  and  to  the  repose  of  your 
subjects.  Finally,  as  I  could  not  commit  a  greater  crime 
in  regard  to  you  than  to  disguise  from  you  matters  of 
importance  to  your  service,  I  declare  to  you  that  I  can 
know  neither  repose  nor  contentment,  if  I  do  not  see, 
by  the  results,  that  you  are  obtaining  the  mastery  over 
yourself,  for  otherwise  all  is  lost,  and  the  only  remedy 
which  remains  for  me  to  employ  is  to  withdraw  and  to 
take  away  with  me  the  cause  of  the  evils  which  we  are 
on  the  eve  of  seeing  arrive. 

"  I  have  the  ambition  which  an  honest  man  ought  to 
have,  and  perhaps,  in  certain  things,  I  go  too  far.  I  love 
my  niece  dearly,  but,  without  exaggeration,  I  love  you 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  137 

still  more  ;  and  I  am  more  interested  in  your  credit  and 
the  preservation  of  your  State  than  in  anything  in  the 
world.  Wherefore,  I  can  only  repeat  what  I  did  myself 
the  honour  to  write  to  you  from  Cadillac,  and,  although, 
just  at  present,  it  is  not  agreeable  to  you,  I  am  sure  that 
you  will  one  day  love  me  well  for  it,  and  that  you  will 
have  the  kindness  to  confess  that  I  have  never  rendered 
,  you  a  more  important  service  than  this  one.  The  con- 
fidante loves  you  with  the  utmost  tenderness,  and  it  is 
impossible  for  her,  as  it  is  impossible  for  me,  not  to 
treat  you  with  consideration.  Although  she  is  aware 
that  your  wishes  are  often  not  in  accordance  with 
reason,  she  does  not  interfere,  because  she  is  not  proof 
against  the  sight  of  your  suffering.  For  myself,  I 
believe  that  I  have  for  you  the  same  affection  as  the 
confidante  ;  but  this  affection  renders  me  only  the  more 
firm  and  resolute  to  oppose  what  is  absolutely  contrary 
to  your  reputation  and  service  ;  for,  were  I  to  do  other- 
wise, I  should  be  helping  you  to  ruin  yourself. 

"  You  take  the  trouble  to  tell  me  that  you  are  ready 
to  believe  what  I  write  concerning  the  things  that  are 
said  about  you  and  the  correspondence  you  are  carrying 
on  with  La  Rochelle,  but  that  neither  you  nor  the  con- 
fidante have  heard  any  one  speak  about  it.  That  no  one 
should  speak  to  you  of  it  does  not  surprise  me  ;  and,  as 
for  the  confidante,  she  cannot  know  what  I  know  ;  but 
assuredly  she  is  acquainted  with  many  things  which  she 
does  not  tell  you,  from  fear  of  displeasing  you. 

"  I  greatly  wish  that  M.  de  Turenne  had  had  the 
courage  to  inform  you  of  what  is  being  said  concerning 
this  affair  of  yours,  when  you  would  have  known  that 
I  state  nothing  on  my  own  authority.  To  conclude,  I 
answer  you  that  all  Europe  argues  about  this  passion  of 
yours,  and  that  every  one  speaks  of  it  with  a  freedom 


138  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

which  is  very  prejudicial  to  us.  At  Madrid,  even,  the 
affair  has  created  a  scandal,  for  they  have  not  failed  to 
write  from  Flanders  and  Paris,  with  intent  to  break  off 
the  negotiations  for  the  projected  alliance  and  prevent 
the  execution  of  the  peace.  When  I  shall  have  the 
honour  to  see  you,  I  will  show  you  papers  which  will 
make  you  understand  more  about  this  matter  than  I 
have  written  to  you.  And,  unless  you  remedy  it  with- 
out any  delay,  the  affair  will  grow  more  serious  every 
day,  and  will  become  incurable. 

"  I  ought  further  to  complain  of  the  great  care  you 
take  to  send  to  La  Rochelle  what  I  write  to  you. 
Consider,  I  beg  of  you,  if  that  be  courteous  towards  me 
or  advantageous  for  you,  and  if  that  be  the  way  to 
contribute  towards  the  cure  of  the  person  to  whom  you 
write,  .  .  ." 

This  eloquent  and  persuasive  letter  produced  no 
more  effect  upon  Louis  XIV  than  those  which  had 
preceded  it.  Madame  de  Venel  reported  from  La 
Rochelle  that  special  couriers  continued  to  arrive  from 
Fontainebleau,  bringing  not  only  letters  from  the  King 
to  his  beloved,  but  also  the  letters  which  the  Cardinal 
had  written  to  his  young  master,  in  consequence  of 
which,  Marie  was  so  exasperated  against  her  uncle,  that 
she  refused  even  to  write  to  him  to  felicitate  him  on 
his  restoration  to  health. 

Soon  a  new  subject  of  alarm  presented  itself  to  the 
anxious  Minister.  The  Court  was  making  preparations 
for  its  departure  for  Bayonne,  and,  as  will  be  remem- 
bered, the  King  had  obtained  the  formal  permission  of 
the  Cardinal  and  the  Queen  to  allow  him  to  see  Marie 
Mancini  again  on  his  way  to  the  South.  Mazarin  was 
fully  resolved  to  do  everything  possible  to  induce  Louis 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  139 

XIV  to  renounce  this  project;  but,  in  view  of  the  King's 
determination  and  the  weakness  of  Anne  of  Austria,  he 
was  at  a  loss  how  to  proceed.  He  foresaw  that  this 
interview  would  not  only  have  the  effect  of  fanning  the 
flame  of  a  passion  which  absence  had  been  powerless  to 
extinguish,  but  might  create  a  scandal  at  the  very  open- 
ing of  the  Conferences.  It  was  indeed,  he  thought, 
more  than  possible  that  the  infatuated  young  King  was 
actually  counting  upon  it  to  bring  about  a  rupture  with 
Spain.  The  anxiety  which  this  thought  occasioned  him 
aggravated  his  disease  and  brought  on  a  serious  relapse, 
so  that  for  several  days  he  was  obliged  to  cease  all 
correspondence.  On  his  recovery,  he  wrote  to  the 
Queen,  imploring  her  to  prevent  the  meeting  he  had  so 
much  cause  to  dread  at  all  costs. 

Mazarin  to  the  Queen. 

"  Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  29  July  1659. 

"  I  have  been  extremely  mortified  at  not  having  been 
in  a  fit  state  to  write  to  you  for  some  days,  since  that  is 
for  me  one  of  the  greatest  consolations  that  I  can  have, 
and  particularly  in  the  agitation  of  mind  in  which  I  am. 
I  have  read  your  four  letters  several  times,  and  I  cannot 
thank  you  enough  for  the  continuation  of  your  kind- 
ness, but  for  which  1  should  pass  a  worse  and  a  more 
unhappy  life,  seeing  that  I  am  separated  from  you  and 
from  the  confidant  [the  King],  and  the  latter  does  not 
do  the  things  that  I  should  wish,  in  order  to  oblige 
every  one  to  regard  him  as  the  wisest  of  all  kings,  who 
prefers  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  his  State  to  every 
other  consideration  and  pleasure.  I  see  plainly,  by  your 
letters  and  by  those  of  the  confidant,  that  your  affection 
for   him  has   not   allowed  you   to  continue  firm  ;    but 


I40  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

assuredly  he  will  do  himself  some  injury  ;  and,  for  my- 
self, I  do  not  change  my  opinion,  and  I  confirm  to  the 
confidant,  in  a  letter  which  I  am  writing  him,  the  same 
things  which  I  wrote  to  him  from  Cadillac.  You  will 
see  the  letter,  and  it  is  impossible  for  you  not  to  ap- 
prove of  my  reasons,  if  the  compassion  which  you  feel 
towards  him,  when  you  see  him  suffering,  does  not  pre- 
vent you  from  so  doing. 

"  I  complain  to  the  confidant  that  he  has  written  to 
La  Rochelle  all  that  I  have  written  to  him.  I  am 
assured  of  it,  and  he  has  treated  me  very  ill  in  behaving 
in  this  way. 

"  Marianne  writes  to  me  to  complain  of  Hortense, 
and  with  reason,  for  she  is  always  closeted  with  Marie, 
whose  confidante  she  is,  and  both  of  them  drive  away 
Marianne,  so  that  she  can  never  remain  with  them.^  I 
observe  that  Hortense  is  taking  the  same  road  as  the 
other,  and  that  she  has  less  deference  for  Madame  de 
Venel  than  her  sister  has.  You  may  judge  how  much 
annoyance  this  occasions  me  ;  but  I  promise  you  that,  in 
one  fashion  or  another,  I  shall  put  the  matter  right, 
whatever  may  happen.  It  is  a  great  misfortune  when 
one  has  reason  to  be  dissatisfied  with  one's  family. 

^  Marianne  had  written  to  her  uncle  :  "  I  make  use  of  another  hand 
besides  my  own  to  let  your  Eminence  know  the  miseries  which  my  sisters 
inflict  upon  me,  and,  if  he  does  not  believe  me,  he  can  ascertain,  through 
Madame  de  Venel,  that  I  adhere  strictly  to  the  truth.  For  five  or  six 
days,  they  have  not  allowed  me  to  enter  their  room,  but  have  driven  me 
out  with  the  greatest  fury  imaginable.  Marie  is  unwilling  to  suffer  any 
one,  save  Hortense,  near  her.  I  beg  your  Eminence  to  find  some  remedy 
for  this.  I  know  not  what  to  do,  and  Madame  de  Venel  herself  is  very 
angry  with  them.     I  have  nothing  else  to  tell  you  this  evening." 

The  explanation  of  this  state  of  affairs  is  that  the  worthy  Madame  de 

^  Venel  had  persuaded  Marianne  to  spy  upon  her  sisters  ;    to  inform  her 

whenever  she  saw  Marie  writing  a  letter,  and  even  to  listen  at  the  key-hole 

to  the  conversations  between  her  and  Hortense,  and  that  the  little  girl  had 

been  detected. 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  141 

"  Madame  de  Vend  does  all  that  she  can,  but  they 
have  little  regard  for  her.  I  trust  that  the  confidant 
[the  King]  will  have  the  kindness  to  accord  me  the 
favour  of  not  going  to  see  them  ;  for  assuredly  that 
would  be  badly  received,  and  the  scandal  would  be  a 
public  one.  But,  should  I  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  fail 
to  obtain  so  reasonable  a  request,  and  your  good  offices 
be  powerle,ss  to  effect  anything  against  the  strength  of 
his  passion,  I  implore  you,  a  mas  no  podo,  to  make  my 
nieces  come  with  Madame  de  Venel  to  Angoul^me,  and 
to  write  her  a  letter  in  which  you  will  order  her  to 
bring  them  to  the  same  place,  because  you  wish  to  see 
them  as  you  pass  through  ;  and  after  they  have  remained 
there  a  night,  you  will  arrange  for  them  to  return.  I 
beg  you,  in  that  case,  to  send  a  gentleman  to  carry 
your  letter  to  Madame  de  Venel  and  accompany  them  ; 
but,  in  God's  name,  do  everything  possible  to  avert 
this  blow,  which,  in  whatever  way  it  comes,  cannot  fail 
to  have  a  very  disastrous  effect.  .  .  ." 

The  Queen  either  could  not  or  would  not  attempt  to 
prevent  the  dreaded  interview ;  but  she  wrote  to  Madame 
de  Venel,  directing  her  to  bring  her  charges  to  Saint-Jean- 
d'Angely.  The  bearer  of  the  letter,  M.  du  Fouilloux, 
brother  of  Marie's  friend  and  a  great  favourite  of  the 
King,  brought  also  a  long  letter  from  his  Majesty  to 
Mile.  Mancini.  His  arrival  and  the  news  he  brought 
caused  that  young  lady  the  greatest  joy,  and  threw  poor 
Madame  de  Venel  into  the  utmost  consternation,  for, 
having  received  no  orders  on  the  subject  from  the 
Cardinal,  she  knew  not  what  to  do.  She  at  once  des- 
patched a  courier  to  his  Eminence,  to  inform  him  of  what 
had  occurred  and  the  impossibility,  under  the  circum- 
stances, of  refusing  to  obey  the  commands  of  the  Queen. 


142  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

Madame  de  Venel  to  Mazartn. 

•'  lo  August  1659. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — The  letter  which  I  am  sending  to 
your  Eminence  will  serve  as  my  excuse.  I  am,  with 
very  sensible  displeasure,  compelled  to  set  out  without 
having  had  a  word  of  advice  from  your  Eminence 
regarding  what  I  ought  to  do.  .  .  .  For  the  love  of 
God,  let  your  Eminence  have  the  goodness  to  advise 
me  what  I  should  do,  since  I  would  prefer  to  die  rather 
than  have  the  unhappiness  to  displease  your  Eminence. 
M,  du  Fouilloux,  who  has  brought  the  Queen's  letter, 
has  instructions  to  attend  Mesdemoiselles  to  Saint-Jean. 
I  shall  not  fail  to  send  word  to  your  Eminence  of  what 
happens  there. 

**  I  am,  etc, 

"P.S. — Mesdemoiselles  will  sleep  to-morrow  (Mon- 
day) at  Surgeres,  and  Tuesday  at  Saint-Jean,  where  the 
Court  will  arrive  on  Wednesday." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

Interview  between  Louis  XIV  and  Marie  Mancini  at  Saint-Jean- 
d'Angely — The  King  more  enamoured  than  ever — Letter  of  Marie 
to  her  uncle — Angry  letter  of  Mazarin  to  Madame  de  Venel — Alarm 
of  Marie,  who  seeks  to  pacify  the  Cardinal — Marianne's  verses — 
Continuation  of  the  correspondence  between  the  King  and  Marie — 
Remarkable  letter  of  Mazarin  to  Louis  XIV — Curt  response  of  his 
Majesty — The  King  accuses  Anne  of  Austria  of  embittering  the 
Cardinal  against  his  niece — Letters  of  Mazarin  to  the  Queen-Mother 
and  the  King — Despair  of  Louis  XIV  at  finding  that  all  obstacles  to 
his  marriage  with  the  Infanta  have  been  surmounted — Marie  Mancini 
breaks  off  all  correspondence  with  the  King — Letter  in  which  she 
informs  her  uncle  of  her  resolution — Joy  of  the  Cardinal — His  letters 
to  Madame  de  Venel  and  his  niece. 


T 


HE  Cardinal's  nieces  left  La  Rochelle  on  1 1  Au- 
gust and  reached  Saint-Jean-d'Angely  the  follow- 
ing day,  where  they  awaited  the  Court,  which  did  not 
arrive  until  the  morning  of  the  13th.  In  his  letter, 
the  King  had  informed  Marie  that  he  intended  to  pre- 
cede the  Queen  and  reach  the  town  an  hour  before 
her.  Such,  however,  was  his  impatience  to  behold  once 
more  the  object  of  his  adoration,  that  he  arrived  fully 
two  hours  earlier  than  he  was  expected.  "  He  alighted 
immediately  at  our  lodging,"  writes  Hortense,  "and, 
after  the  first  salutations  had  been  exchanged,  he  passed 
into  the  reception-room,  where  he  conversed  alone  with 
Marie  until  the  moment  when  they  came  to  warn  him 
of  the  arrival  of  the  Queen.  He  then  entered  our 
coach  and  escorted  us  to  the  Queen,  who  received  us 
with    all    the   graciousness   imaginable.     Marianne  was 

143 


144  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

so  touched  that  she  remained  like  one  petrified,  being 
unable  to  utter  a  word.  Finally,  she  began  weeping, 
which  was  very  unlike  her."^ 

The  Princesse  de  Conti  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons 
were  with  the  Queen  when  the  girls  arrived.  The  latter 
had  never  forgiven  her  younger  sister  for  having  sup- 
planted her  in  the  King's  affections,  and,  with  character- 
istic spitefulness,  now  endeavoured  to  do  the  lovers  an 
ill  turn,  by  inviting  Marie  to  sup  with  her  and  vowing 
that  she  would  take  no  refusal.  But  Marie  was  equal 
to  the  occasion,  and  replied  that  she  would  come  with 
pleasure,  if  the  King  did  not  intend  to  do  her  the 
honour  of  visiting  her.  When  the  Queen  sat  down  to 
the  card-table — Anne  of  Austria  divided  her  time 
between  cards  and  devotional  exercises — Louis  XIV 
escorted  the  young  ladies  to  their  lodging,  and  remained 
with  them  until  he  was  summoned  to  join  his  mother 
at  supper.  He  returned  immediately  afterwards,  and 
stayed  until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Hortense  was 
present  during  a  part  of  the  time,  and  assures  us  that 
"  nothing  could  equal  the  passion  which  the  King 
showed  and  the  tenderness  with  which  he  asked  of 
Marie  her  pardon  for  all  that  she  had  suffered  for  his 
sake."  He  promised  to  do  everything  possible  to 
obtain  the  Queen's  consent  for  them  to  rejoin  the 
Court  at  Bordeaux,  and  would  have  remained  until  an 
even  later  hour,  had  not  Marie,  fearing  the  malicious 
interpretations  which  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  might 
put  upon  so  long  an  interview,  begged  him  to  leave 
her. 

The  following  morning,  Marie  and  her  sisters  re- 
paired again  to  the  Queen's  lodging,  where  the  King 
was  awaiting  them.      They  accompanied  her   Majesty 

1  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  145 

to  Mass,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  the  Queen  took 
leave  of  them  and  continued  her  journey.  Before  she 
left,  Marie,  on  Louis  XIV's  advice,  begged  her  per- 
mission to  rejoin  the  Court.  Anne  of  Austria  did  not 
like  to  refuse  openly  ;  but  took  refuge  behind  the  Car- 
dinal, and  replied  that  she  would  give  it  her  willingly, 
providing  his  Eminence  were  agreeable.  Marie  knew 
well  enough  what  his  Eminence's  answer  was  likely  to 
be  ;  nevertheless,  as  the  King  had  set  his  heart  on  her 
following  the  Court,  she  did  not  despair  of  being  ulti- 
mately successful. 

Louis  XIV  remained  at  Saint-Jean-d'Angely  for  some 
hours  after  his  mother's  departure,  the  whole  of  which 
time  was  passed  in  earnest  conversation  with  Marie, 
when  it  was  agreed  that  the  girl  should  use  every 
endeavour  to  conciliate  her  uncle,  since  an  apparent 
submission  to  his  wishes  seemed  to  be  the  only  possible 
means  of  terminating  her  exile.  Finally,  "after  some 
tears  had  been  shed  on  both  sides,"  the  King  succeeded 
in  tearing  himself  away,  and  continued  his  journey  to 
Bordeaux  ;  while  Marie  and  her  sisters  returned  to  La 
Rochelle,  M.  du  Fouilloux,  by  his  Majesty's  orders, 
again  escorting  them. 

The  interview  had  revived  all  the  girl's  hopes.  She 
had  found  the  King  more  devoted  than  ever  and  more 
than  ever  resolved  to  brave  both  his  mother  and  the 
Cardinal.  He  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  difficulties 
which  were  certain  to  arise  during  the  forthcoming 
negotiations,  notably  in  regard  to  the  Prince  de  Conde, 
whose  demand  to  be  restored  to  all  his  honours  and 
dignities  would  certainly  be  supported  by  the  King  of 
Spain,  and  strenuously  opposed  by  Mazarin.  It  was 
quite  possible  that  this  matter  alone  might  prove  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  conclusion  of  peace,  in 


146  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

which   eventuality  the   chief  objection   to   his  marriage 
with  Marie  Mancini  would  be  removed. 

A  few  days  after  her  return  to  La  Rochelle,  Marie 
addressed  to  the  Cardinal  the  following  letter  : — 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal. 

"  La  Rochelle,  22  August  1659. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — I  have  seen  the  letter  which  your 
Eminence  has  done  Madame  de  Venel  the  honour  to 
write  to  her/  and  I  should  suffer  the  greatest  grief 
possible  to  conceive,  if  you  were  able  to  doubt  my  affec- 
tion and  respect.  I  know  too  well  the  obligation  which 
I  am  under  to  you  not  to  render  all  my  life  an  absolute 
submission  to  your  orders.  I  should  be  in  despair  were 
your  Eminence  to  doubt  it.  I  have  no  good  opinion  of 
myself,  and,  even  if  I  had,  1  should  always  submit  to 
your  orders.  I  feel  that  my  welfare  is  in  your  hands, 
and  I  am  tranquil,  well  knowing  that  you  will  have  the 
goodness  to  assure  it.  If  I  have  done  anything  to 
displease  your  Eminence,  let  me  know  of  it,  for  1 
submit  blindly  to  your  wishes. 

"  Your  Eminence  is  aware  of  the  journey  which  we 
have  just  undertaken  by  the  Queen's  command.  You 
will  admit  that  I  required  to  be  extremely  submissive 
to  return  to  La  Rochelle  without  allowing  the  mortifica- 
tion I  experienced  to  be  observed,  and  you  have  seen 
that,  in  this  affair,  I  have  had  sufficient  control  over 
myself.  Be  persuaded  that  I  am  not  oblivious  of  the 
obligation  under  which  I  am  to  you,  and  that  I  would 
lose  my  life  rather  than  fail  to  prove  to  you  the  sub- 
mission which  makes  me,  with  respect,  etc."^ 

^  Presumably,  a  letter  written  from  Saint- Jean-de-Luz  on  14  August, 
in  which  Mazarin  had  expressed  in  very  strong  terms  his  anger  at  the 
folly  and  obstinacy  of  his  niece. 

^  Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  147 

The  tone  of  this  letter  is  obviously  the  result  of  the 
advice  given  by  the  King  to  his  inamorata  at  Saint- 
Jean -d' A  ngely.  It  did  not,  however,  produce  the 
effect  upon  the  Cardinal  which  the  writer  expected. 
Informed  by  Madame  de  Venel  of  all  that  had  taken 
place  during  the  meeting  between  the  lovers,  Mazarin 
could  hardly  doubt  that  his  Majesty's  passion  for  his 
niece  was  as  lively  as  ever,  and  he  had,  moreover,  re- 
ceived from  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  a  highly-coloured 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  Marie  had  treated  her 
on  that  occasion,  to  which  the  countess  joined  some  very 
unpleasant  innuendoes  respecting  the  tete-a-tetes  which 
her  sister  had  had  with  the  King.  He  did  not,  in  con- 
sequence, condescend  to  acknowledge  Marie's  letter  ; 
but  wrote  a  very  angry  one  to  Madame  de  Venel,  and 
concluded  by  expressing  his  opinion  that  his  niece  was 
"going  the  right  way  to  make  herself  the  most  unhappy 
woman  of  her  age."  This  letter  was  duly  shown  by  the 
gouvernante  to  her  charge,  \^ith  whom  it  provided  food 
for  very  serious  reflection.  The  imprudent  girl  had  at 
first  troubled  very  little  about  displeasing  the  Cardinal, 
believing  that  the  King's  love  would  be  able  to  protect 
her  against  any  extreme  measures  on  her  uncle's  part. 
However,  her  continued  exile  and  the  veiled  threats 
which  his  Eminence's  letters  contained  had  begun  to 
alarm  her.  She  was  too  intelligent  not  to  perceive  that 
Mazarin  was  resolved  to  promote  at  all  costs  the  true 
interests  of  France  and  his  master,  and  that,  unless,  as 
the  King  had  himself  advised  her,  she  could  contrive  to 
conciliate  him  by  a  pretence  of  submission  to  his  wishes, 
she  was  not  unlikely  to  find  herself  shut  up  in  a  convent 
for  the  remainder  of  her  days  ;  not,  of  course,  in  France, 
where  Louis  XIV  could  have  interfered  to  prevent  it, 
but  in  Italy.    She  therefore  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  a  very 


148  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

long  and  very  humble  letter,  defending  herself  against  the 
charge  of  discourtesy  to  Madame  de  Soissons,  to  whom 
she  promised  to  write  very  often  and  to  testify  "all  kinds 
of  affection,"  from  which  his  Eminence  would  be  able  to 
judge  how  entirely  submissive  she  was  to  his  orders. 

This  time  Mazarin  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded, 
and  wrote  to  the  Corn^^sse  de  Soissons  recommending 
her  to  behave  "  with  more  prudence  and  moderation  " 
in  regard  to  her  sister.  He  feared  that  otherwise  she 
might  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  King,  even  more  than 
she  had  already  contrived  to  do,  which  would  not  at  all 
have  suited  the  Cardinal's  plans. 

In  the  midst  of  his  grave  political  occupations  and 
of  the  ceaseless  anxiety  which  the  continuance  of 
Louis  XIV's  passion  for  his  niece  occasioned  him, 
Mazarin  did  not  neglect  the  most  trifling  matters. 
Thus,  learning  from  Madame  de  Venel  that  Marianne 
was  somewhat  unwell,  he  wrote  to  Vallot,  the  King's 
first  physician,  begging  him  to  prescribe  for  her  by 
letter,  which  the  doctor  did,  and  sent  the  Cardinal 
reassuring  reports  as  to  the  health  of  his  favourite.  The 
future  patroness  of  La  Fontaine — and  Pradon — had 
even  thus  early  shown  her  taste  for  belles  lettres^  and  was 
in  the  habit  of  addressing  to  her  uncle  rhyming  epistles 
modelled,  apparently,  on  Loret's  *'  Muse  historique," 
which,  to  judge  from  the  following  specimen,  written  after 
her  visit  to  Saint-Jean-d'Angely,  must  have  afforded  his 
Eminence  much  amusement, 

Marianne  to  the  Cardinal. 

"  i8  August  1659. 
**  J'ai  eu  la  plus  grande  joie 
De  voir  la  reine  et  le  roi. 
Mais  le  plaisir  a  ete  bien  court 
De  ne  voir  qu'un  instant  la  Cour. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  149 

Vous  nous  laissez  longtemps 

Languir  a  La  Rochelle, 

Nous  autres  pauvres  pucelles. 

Vous  ne  songez  non  plus  a  nous, 

Que  si  nous  etions  des  loups-garous. 

II  me  semble  que  vous  ne  devriez  pas 

Oublier  des  nieces  qui  ont  tant  d'appas. 

Qui  vous  aiment  si  fort 

Qu'elles  aimeraient  mieux  la  mort, 

Qu'etre  longtemps  en  absence 

De  votre  noble  Eminence. 

Pour  moi  qui  suis  votre  chere  niece 

Je  me  mettrai  en  mille  pieces 

Pour  obeir  toujours  aveuglement 

Et  vous  donner  contentement. 

La  reine  nous  a  donne 

Quatre  montres  en  verite 

Que  sont  les  plus  belles 

Qui  soient  dans  La  Rochelle ; 

Ma  soeur  Hortense  a  eu 

La  plus  belle  montre  de  tout. 

Je  voudrais  bien  coucher  avec  vous 

Et  que  fussiez  mon  epoux, 

Monsieur,  je  vous  supplie, 

Traitez-moi  sans  ceremonie, 

Car  ce  serait  plutot  moi 

Qui  vous  devrait  faire  la  loi. 

Ou  madame  de  Venel  ment 

Ou  vous  ne  lui  ecrivez  pas  souvent, 

Elle  se  trouve  fort  en  peine 

Quand  elle  a  nouvelle  de  la  reine 

Qui  I'oblige  de  partir  ; 

Craignant  fort  le  dementir 

Elle  pleure  et  se  tourmente, 

Rendez-la  done  plus  contente 

Et  moi  je  vous  dis  adieu 

Parce  que  je  vais  prier  Dieu."^ 

*  Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


r^o  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

The  Cardinal's  belief  in  Marie's  assurances  of  sub- 
mission did  not  last  long.  Madame  de  Venel  reported, 
under  date  27  August,  that  the  young  lady  had  re- 
ceived two  bulky  epistles  from  the  King  almost  at  the 
same  time,  to  which  she  had  replied  at  equal  length. 
To  add  to  his  uneasiness,  Louis  XIV  wrote  to  him  to 
plead  the  cause  of  his  beloved,  assuring  the  Cardinal 
that  Marie's  feelings  towards  his  Eminence  were  very 
different  from  what  he  seemed  to  imagine,  and  begging 
him  to  show  himself  more  indulgent  and  less  of  a  scold. 
The  poor  Cardinal,  who  was  suffering  from  "  a  furious 
attack  of  gout,"  appears  to  have  quite  lost  his  temper. 
He  wrote  to  Madame  de  Venel,  telling  her  to  inform 
his  niece  that  she  might  spare  herself  the  trouble  of 
writing  to  him  any  more,  "  since  he  knew  very  well 
what  was  in  her  mind  and  the  value  he  ought  to  place 
in  her  professions  of  affection  for  him."  And  he  ad- 
dressed to  the  King  a  long  and  eloquent  letter,  in  which 
he  drew  a  most  unflattering  portrait  of  Marie,  and  con- 
jured him,  in  the  strongest  possible  terms,  to  master 
this  passion,  which  threatened  to  prove  so  disastrous  to 
the  interests  of  France  and  his  own  reputation. 

Mazarin  to  the  King. 

"  28  August,  from  Saint-Jean-de-Luz. 

"  I  beg  you  to  be  persuaded,  once  and  for  all,  that  I 
know  not  how  to  render  you  a  greater  or  more  im- 
portant service  than  to  speak  to  you  with  the  freedom 
which  you  have  had  the  kindness  to  permit  me  to  do 
where  your  service  is  concerned,  and  particularly  on 
matters  of  consideration  and  importance,  with  which 
assuredly  you  have  no  servant  capable  of  dealing  with 
the  zeal  that  I  shall  employ. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  151 

"  I  shall  begin  by  telling  you,  in  reference  to  your 
letter  of  13  August,  which  treats  of  the  kindly  feeling 
which  the  person  who  is  in  question  has  for  myself,  and 
of  the  other  things  which  it  has  pleased  you  to  write  to 
her  advantage,  that  I  am  not  surprised  at  the  manner  in 
which  you  speak,  since  it  is  your  passion  for  her  which 
prevents  you,  as  is  commonly  the  case  with  persons  in 
a  like  state  to  yourself,  from  understanding  her  true 
character  ;  and  I  answer  that,  were  it  not  for  this  passion, 
you  would  be  of  the  same  opinion  as  myself  that  this 
person  has  no  affection  for  me,  but,  on  the  contrary,  re- 
gards me  with  much  aversion,  because  I  do  not  flatter 
her  follies ;  that  she  has  unbounded  ambition,  a  capricious 
and  passionate  disposition,  contempt  for  every  one,  no 
control  over  her  actions,  and  a  predilection  for  com- 
mitting all  kinds  of  extravagant  things  ;  that  she  is  more 
unreasonable  than  ever  since  she  had  the  honour  of 
seeing  you  at  Saint-Jean-d'Angely  ;  and,  instead  of  re- 
ceiving your  letters  twice  a  week,  she  now  receives  them 
every  day.  In  short,  you  will  perceive,  as  I  do,  that  she 
has  a  thousand  faults  and  not  a  single  good  quality  to 
render  her  worthy  of  your  kindness.  In  your  letter,  you 
afiirm  your  belief  that  my  opinion  of  her  is  the  result  of 
the  bad  offices  which  people  render  her.  Is  it  possible  that 
you  are  under  the  impression  that  I,  who  am  so  dis- 
cerning and  skilful  in  affairs  of  importance,  am  in  entire 
ignorance  of  those  which  concern  my  family  ?  Can  I 
entertain  any  doubt  as  to  the  intentions  of  this  person  in 
regard  to  myself  ?  when  I  see  that  she  never  fails  to  do 
in  all  things  the  contrary  to  what  I  order  her  ;  that  she 
turns  the  counsels  I  give  her  regarding  her  conduct  into 
ridicule;  that  the  presumptuous  acts  she  commits  in  the 
sight  of  all  the  world  are  prejudicial  both  to  her  own 
honour  and  my  own  ;    that  she  wishes  to  make  herself 


t52  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

mistress  and  change  all  the  orders  that  I  give  in  my 
house ;  and  that,  to  conclude,  despising  all  the  care  that  I 
have  employed,  with  so  much  affection,  earnestness,  and 
address,  to  place  her  in  the  right  way  and  make  her 
prudent,  she  persists  in  her  follies,  and  intends  to  become 
the  laughing-stock  of  the  world  ? 

"If  the  bad  behaviour  of  this  person  were  injuring  only 
herself  and  me,  I  might  disguise  my  feelings.  But,  since 
the  evil  is  augmenting  daily,  and  this  connection  is  doing 
irreparable  harm  to  the  reputation  and  tranquillity  of  my 
master,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  tolerate  it ;  and  I  shall 
be  compelled,  in  the  end,  to  take  resolutions  whereby 
every  one  will  be  convinced  that,  where  your  service  is 
in  question,  I  am  prepared  to  make  every  sacrifice. 

"  And  if  I  am  so  unhappy  as  to  find  that  the  passion 
which  you  cherish  for  this  creature  prevents  you  from 
realising  the  importance  of  the  affair,  nothing  remains 
for  me  save  to  carry  out  the  resolution  with  which  I 
acquainted  you  in  my  letter  from  Cadillac  ;  ^  for,  to  be 
brief,  there  is  no  power  which  can  deprive  me  of  the 
absolute  authority  which  God  and  the  laws  have  given 
me  over  my  family.  And  you  will  one  day  be  the  first 
to  pay  tribute  to  the  service  which  I  shall  have  rendered 
you,  which  will  assuredly  be  the  greatest  of  all,  since,  by 
my  resolution,  I  shall  have  placed  you  in  the  way  to  be 
happy,  and,  along  with  that,  to  be  the  most  glorious  and 
the  most  accomplished  king  on  earth. 

"  I  return  to  the  person  under  discussion,  who  be- 
lieves herself  more  assured  than  ever  of  being  able  to 
dispose  absolutely  of  your  affection,  since  the  new  pro- 
mise you  made  her  at  Saint-Jean-d'Angely,  and,  if  you 

^  His  resolve,  if  all  other  means  of  bringing  the  King  to  reason  failed, 
of  resigning  his  post  of  chief  Minister  and  carrying  off  Marie  and  her 
sisters  to  Italy.      See  p.  134  supra. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  153 

are  obliged  to  marry,  I  know  that  her  intention  is  to 
render  the  princess  you  wed  unhappy  all  her  life,  which 
cannot  happen  without  rendering  you  the  same,  nor 
without  exposing  you  to  a  thousand  grievous  incon- 
veniences ;  for  you  cannot  expect  the  blessing  of  Heaven 
if  you,  on  your  part,  do  nothing  to  deserve  it. 

"  Since  that  last  visit  [the  interview  at  Saint- Jean- 
d'Angely],  which  I  always  knew  would  be  fatal,  and 
which,  for  that  reason,  I  strove  to  prevent,  you  have 
recommenced  writing  to  her  every  day,  not  letters,  but 
whole  volumes,  giving  her  an  account  of  even  the  most 
trifling  happenings,  and  reposing  in  her  the  utmost 
confidence,  to  the  exclusion  of  every  one  else  ;  in  such  a 
way  that  your  whole  time  is  occupied  in  reading  her 
letters  and  in  writing  your  own.  And  what  is  in- 
comprehensible, is  that  you  employ  every  imaginable 
expedient  to  excite  your  passion,  while  you  are  on  the  eve 
of  your  marriage.  Thus,  you  are  labouring  to  render 
yourself  the  most  unhappy  of  all  men,  since  there  is  no 
condition  more  insupportable  than  a  marriage  which  is 
contrary  to  one's  inclination. 

"  But  tell  me,  I  entreat  you,  what  is  this  girl's  in- 
tention, when  once  you  are  married  ?  Has  she  forgotten 
her  duty  so  far  as  to  believe  that,  if  I  were  so  dishonour- 
able a  man,  or,  to  speak  more  plainly,  so  infamous  as  to 
approve  of  it,  she  will  be  able  to  assume  a  position  which 
will  dishonour  her.''^  Perhaps  she  imagines  that  she  can 
act  thus  without  any  one  murmuring,  since  she  has 
gained  every  one's  heart.  But  she  is  greatly  deceived, 
since  her  conduct  has  aroused  so  much  feeling  against  her 
amongst  all  who  are  acquainted  with  her,  that  I  should 
find  it  hard  to  name  one  who  has  any  esteem  or  good- 
will for  her,  save  Hortense,  who  is  a  child  whom  she 

1  That  is  to  say,  become  the  King's  mistress. 


154  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

has  won  over  by  flattery  and  by  giving  her  money  and 
other  things  ;  having  found,  so  I  conceive,  some  trea- 
sure, since  she  refused  to  accept  the  money  which  I 
ordered  Madame  de  Venel  to  give  her  to  any  amount 
she  desired,  when  she  went  to  La  Rochelle.^ 

"  The  greatest  good  fortune  which  can  happen  to  this 
person,  is  for  me  to  set  matters  in  order  without  delay, 
and  if  I  cannot  render  her  prudent,  which  I  believe  to 
be  impossible,  at  least  to  prevent  her  follies  being  any 
longer  patent  to  the  world,  since,  otherwise,  she  will 
run  the  risk  of  being  ruined. 

"  You  will  hear  all  this  with  astonishment,  because 
the  aff'ection  which  you  bear  her  leaves  you  no  room 
to  discern  clearly  what  concerns  her.  But  for  myself, 
who  am  not  preoccupied,  and  who,  whatever  the  cost 
may  be,  desire  to  serve  you  at  this  juncture,  which  is 
the  most  important  of  your  life,  even  if  it  should  cost 
me  my  own,  I  see  the  truth  as  it  is,  for  otherwise  I 
should  be  committing  a  kind  of  treason.  For  the  rest, 
let  things  happen  as  they  will,  since  I  am  prepared  to 
die,  provided  it  be  in  the  execution  of  my  duty  and  in 
serving  you,  as  I  am  obliged  to  do,  particularly  in  this 
matter,  with  which  no  one  except  myself  can  know 
how  to  deal. 

"...  I  do  not  doubt  that  she  [Marie  Mancini]  is 
aware  of  all  that  I  have  the  honour  to  write  to  you ; 
but,  very  far  from  fearing  that,  I  desire  it  passionately  ; 
and  would  to  God  that  I  believed  her  capable  of  giving 
sound  counsel  concerning  the  affairs  about  which  you 
take  the  trouble  to  inform  her,  for  I  should  willingly 
ask  to  be  relieved  of  this  anxiety !    But  I  confess  to  you 

1  This  is  a  palpable  hit  at  the  King,  who  had  been  supplying  Marie  with 
money  wherewith  to  secure  the  good-will  of  those  about  her  and  facili- 
tate the  correspondence  between  the  lovers. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  155 

that  at  my  age,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  the  occupations 
by  which  I  am  overwhelmed,  and  in  which  it  seems  to 
me  to  be  sufficient  happiness  to  serve  you  with  credit 
and  with  advantage  to  your  State,  it  is  intolerable  for 
me  to  find  myself  disturbed  on  account  of  a  person 
who,  for  all  kinds  of  reasons,  ought  to  tear  herself  in 
pieces  in  order  to  relieve  me.  And  what  distresses  me 
to  the  Ust  degree,  is  that,  instead  of  sparing  me  this 
sorrow,  you  contribute  thereto,  by  giving  this  wretched 
girl  courage  and  resolution  to  act  as  she  is  doing. 

"  I  was  altogether  relieved  in  my  mind  by  what  you 
took  the  trouble  to  write  to  me,  and  by  the  manner  in 
which  you  had  begun  to  conduct  yourself  after  my 
despatch  from  Cadillac  ;  and  I  believed  that  you  had  no 
other  thought  than  to  prepare  the  way  to  be  happy 
in  your  marriage,  which  could  only  be  by  putting  an 
end  to  the  passion  which  had  rendered  itself  mistress 
of  your  mind.  But  I  have  seen,  with  sensible  grief, 
that  since  this  fatal  visit  [the  interview  at  Saint-Jean- 
d'Angely],  which  I  would  have  prevented  at  the  cost 
of  my  blood,  everything  is  in  a  worse  condition  than 
before.  And  it  is  unnecessary  for  you  to  explain  the 
matter  differently,  for  I  cannot  doubt  it,  and  I  may  say 
that  I  know  all  as  well  as  you.  Consider  after  that, 
I  beg  of  you,  what  must  be  my  condition,  and  if  the 
world  contains  a  more  unhappy  man  than  myself,  who, 
after  having  always  applied  himself  zealously  to  augment 
your  reputation  and  to  procure,  by  all  the  most  difficult 
means,  the  triumph  of  your  arms,  has  the  grief  to 
behold  a  person  related  to  him  on  the  point  of  over- 
turning everything  and  of  compassing  your  ruin,  if  you 
continue  to  give  a  free  rein  to  the  passion  which  you 
have  for  her. 

"  Can   I,  without  injury  to  the  fidelity  which  1  owe 


156  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

you,  and  without  betraying  my  obligations,  abstain  from 
warning  you  that  you  are  taking  a  road  altogether  con- 
trary to  decorum  and  to  the  happiness  to  which  you 
ought  to  aspire,  since,  on  the  eve  of  your  marriage, 
you  are  abandoning  yourself  more  than  ever  to  your 
passion  ?  For  whatever  power  you  may  have  over 
yourself,  and  whatever  progress  you  may  have  made, 
on  the  advice  of  her  whom  you  love,  in  the  art  of 
dissimulation,  you  cannot  conceal  your  aversion  for  this 
marriage,  although  it  be  the  most  advantageous  and  the 
most  glorious  that  you  can  possibly  contract.  You  lay 
yourself  open  to  receive  proofs  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
if  you  proceed  to  marry  a  princess  whom  you  do  not 
love,  with  the  intention  of  living  on  bad  terms  with 
her,  as  the  other  person  [Marie]  threatens  to  do  with 
her  whom  you  wed. 

"  I  find  myself  greatly  embarrassed  .  .  .  about  con- 
cluding the  final  negotiations  in  regard  to  your  marriage  ; 
since  it  seems  to  me  I  am  promising  what  cannot  be 
performed,  and  that  I  am  contributing  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  state  of  things  which  will  render  miserable  an 
innocent  girl  who  is  deserving  of  your  affection  [the 
Infanta]. 

"  It  is  time  for  you  to  come  to  a  decision  and  to 
declare  your  intentions  without  any  concealment  ;  since 
it  is  a  thousand  times  better  to  break  off  all  -legotia- 
tions  and  continue  the  war,  without  troubling  ourselves 
about  the  misery  of  Christendom  and  the  injury  which 
your  State  and  your  subjects  will  thereby  receive,  than 
to  conclude  this  marriage,  if  it  will  produce  only  your 
unhappiness  and  that  of  your  kingdom. 

"All  this  is  what  the  passion,  the  fidelity,  and  the 
zeal  that  I  have  for  your  service  constrains  me  to  repre- 
sent to  you  with  the  freedom  that  I  ought,  as  an  old 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  157 

servant  who  desires  only  your  credit,  and  who  has  more 
interest  and  obligation  than  any  one  else,  not  only  in 
telling  you  the  truth,  but,  further,  in  sacrificing  his  life 
for  so  good  a  master  as  yourself.  Finally,  I  protest  to 
you  that  nothing  can  prevent  me  dying  of  grief,  if  I  see 
a  person  who  is  so  dear  to  me  as  you  occasion  more  un- 
happiness  and  disaster  than  I  have  rendered  you  service 
since  the-first  day  I  began  to  serve  you." 

Never  had  Mazarin  found  himself  in  a  more  difficult 
or  more  embarrassing  position.  "  This  affair,"  wrote  he 
subsequently  to  Colbert,  "  is  perhaps  the  most  delicate  in 
which  I  have  ever  been  engaged,  and  which  has  occa- 
sioned me  the  greatest  uneasiness."  He  passed  the 
three  or  four  days  before  he  received  the  King's  answer 
in  a  state  of  the  most  painful  anxiety,  though  he  had  the 
art  to  conceal  his  apprehensions  and  to  persevere  in  the 
boldness  of  his  language.  "  I  flatter  myself  that  I  ren- 
dered you  a  very  important  service  twenty-four  hours 
since,"  he  writes  to  the  King,  the  day  following  that  on 
which  he  had  addressed  to  him  his  memorable  letter, 
"  having  written  to  you  with  the  freedom  and  candour 
which  a  faithful  servant  who  has  more  interest  than  any 
one  else  in  your  reputation  and  happiness  ought  to 
employ.  I  await  your  reply  with  great  impatience,  since 
by  it  I  must  regulate  my  conduct  and  form  the  resolu- 
tion which  I  shall  deem  capable  of  delivering  you  from 
the  passion  whereby  you  are  at  present  possessed." 

Louis  XIV's  answer,  which  reached  him  on  3  Septem- 
ber, was  very  different  from  what  he  had  expected,  and 
filled  him  with  consternation.  The  young  monarch, 
madly  in  love  as  he  was,  had  resented  Mazarin's  stric- 
tures upon  the  character  and  conduct  of  his  niece  as  so 
many  insults  to  himself,  and,  though  the    contents  of 


158  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

the  document  are  not  known,  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
from  the  letters  which  the  Cardinal  immediately  addres- 
sed to  the  King  and  Queen,  that  it  must  have  contained 
a  stinging  rebuke/  A  letter  from  the  latter  reached 
him  by  the  same  courier  who  brought  his  Majesty's 
reply,  and  related  that,  on  the  arrival  of  Mazarin's  letter, 
there  had  been  a  painful  scene  between  mother  and  son, 
in  which  Louis  had  again  accused  the  Queen  of  embit- 
tering the  Cardinal  against  his  niece,  and  had  declared 
his  resolution  of  listening  to  no  more  advice  from  either 
of  them. 

To  Anne  of  Austria,  Mazarin  replied  : — 

Mazarin  to  the  Queen. 

"  3  September,  Saint- Jean-de-Luz. 

"  I  am  in  despair  at  seeing,  from  all  that  you  have 
the  goodness  to  write  to  me,  the  grief  which  you  are 
experiencing.  Would  to  God  that  I  were  able  to  afford 
you  relief  in  shedding  all  my  blood,  for  I  would  do  so 
with  the  greatest  joy  imaginable  !  The  answer  of  the 
confidant  [the  King]  is  conceived  in  terms  which  show 
me  plainly  enough  that  he  has  no  more  affection  for  me 
or  consideration  for  his  own  interests.  Consequently,  I 
have  no  alternative,  save  to  execute  his  orders  to 
abridge  the  time  of  the  marriage,  and  after  having  signed 
the  contract  and  the  articles  of  peace,  which  will  be 
glorious  and  advantageous  for  his  person  and  his  State, 
to  take  the  resolution  which  will  be  the  best  calculated 
to  deliver  him  from  my  importunities  and  the  best  for 
his  service  ;  praying  God  with  all  my  heart  to  bless  my 
intentions." 

^  According  to  Choisy,  Louis  XIV  wrote  that  Mazarin  might  do  as 
he  pleased,  and  that  if  he  abandoned  the  conduct  of  his  affairs,  many 
others  would  willingly  take  charge  of  them. 


From  an  engra\  iiig  after  the  paiiuiiiL;  liy  Milliard 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA,  QUEEN  OF  FRANCE 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  159 

"Here,"  remarks  Marie  Mancini's  biographer,  Lucien 
Perey,  "  the  Cardinal  observes  more  tact  than  in  his 
letter  to  the  King.  He  was  well  aware  that  the  Queen, 
so  weak  when  confronted  by  her  son,  could  only  hope 
to  hold  her  own  against  him  on  rare  occasions  ;  and  he, 
therefore,  makes  use  of  the  most  powerful  incentive  to 
rouse  her  to  action,  namely,  the  threat  of  his  own 
departure.  -  We  have  seen  how  much  Anne  of  Austria 
had  suffered  during  the  Cardinal's  exile  at  Cologne. 
From  that  time,  the  links  which  united  them  had  been 
given  a  new  strength,  and  he  well  knew  the  effect  which 
the  fear  of  a  fresh  separation  would  produce  on  her 
mind.  Nothing,  then,  could  have  been  more  adroit 
than  the  phrase  which  we  have  just  read."^ 

The  tone  of  Mazarin's  letter  to  the  King  is  very 
different  from  that  of  28  August.  Then  the  Minister 
was  imperious  and  determined  ;  now  he  is  all  humility 
and  submission,  though  the  conclusion  is  not  without  a 
touch  of  dignity. 

Mazaiin  to  the  King. 

"  iSaint-Jean-de-Luz,  3  September. 

"  Sire, — Immediately  on  receipt  of  your  letter,  I  take 
up  the  pen  to  give  myself  the  honour  of  telling  you 
that,  although  your  answer  is  rather  terse,  I  recognise 
sufficiently  your  intentions  and  the  situation  of  your 
mind  as  regards  myself.  Your  kindness  has  never 
permitted  you  up  to  now  either  to  write  or  to  speak  to 
me  as  you  have  on  this  occasion.  It  does  not,  however, 
cause  me  surprise,  for,  since  the  journey  to  Lyons,  I 
have  always  doubted  very  much  whether,  if  I  were  not 
sacrificed  to  the  person  in  question,  I  should  not  be  to 
some  other. 

^  '♦  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


i6o  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

"  Had  you  taken  the  trouble  to  examine  my  letter, 
you  would  have  found  therein  ample  grounds  for 
expressmg  to  me  your  gratitude  for  what  I  wrote  to  you, 
actuated  by  a  pure  and  disinterested  motive  for  your 
service,  reputation,  and  honour  ;  and  you  would  not 
treat  me  extravagantly  as  you  do,  in  telling  me  that  I 
have  a  bad  opinion  of  you  and  that  I  believe  you  to  be 
a  liar.  I  should  not  deserve  to  live,  if  I  had  such 
thoughts  about  my  master.  But  I  tell  you  the  truth 
without  failing  in  the  respect  I  owe  you,  when  I 
maintain  that  the  passion  you  have  for  the  person 
whom  you  love  [Marie  Mancini]  prevents  you  from 
seeing  her  faults,  and  that  I  know  that  she  has  no 
affection  for  me,  notwithstanding  what  you  have  taken 
the  trouble  to  write  to  me  to  the  contrary.  For, 
without  doing  you  any  wrong,  I  think  that  I  know 
better  what  she  is  and  the  manner  in  which  she  has 
conducted  herself  towards  me.  If  you  are  angered 
with  me,  as  you  say  at  the  commencement  of  your 
letter,  you  have  only  to  order  me  to  the  place  to  which 
you  desire  me  to  repair  to  feel  the  effects  of  your 
indignation,  and  I  shall  not  fail  to  obey  you.  Be  sure, 
at  least,  that,  without  making  the  slightest  protest,  I 
shall  publicly  announce  that  you  are  in  the  right  and 
that  I  am  culpable. 

"  You  have,  however,  too  much  sense  of  justice  to 
wish  to  deprive  me  of  honour  in  payment  for  my 
services  ;  and  it  is  quite  sufScient,  it  appears  to  me,  to 
deprive  me  of  life  and  all  that  I  possess  in  the  world, 
without  depriving  me  of  the  liberty  that  laws  divine  and 
human  give  me  to  dispose  of  my  family. 

"  I  implore  you  very  humbly  to  pardon  me,  if  I  have 
importuned  you  over  much,  assuring  you  that  I  shall  do 
so  no  more  in  the  future.     Finally,  to  abridge  the  time 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  i6i 

of  your  marriage,  I  shall  sign  the  articles  relating  to  it 
and  those  of  the  peace,  according  to  your  orders,  which 
done,  I  shall  go  to  end  my  days  in  the  place  to  which 
you  may  be  pleased  to  order  me,  satisfied  with  having 
had  the  happiness  to  serve  for  thirty  years  the  King, 
your  father,  and  yourself,  without  your  army  or  your 
affairs  having  suffered  any  loss  of  reputation.  I 
demand  only  this  favour,  that  you  will  be  persuaded 
that,  whatever  may  be  my  fate,  I  shall  be  to  the  last 
moment  of  my  life  the  most  faithful  and  the  most 
devoted  creature  that  you  have." 

Up  to  this  moment,  Louis  XIV  seems  to  have  really 
believed  that  some  obstacle  would  intervene  to  prevent 
the  conclusion  of  peace  and  his  marriage  with  the 
Infanta  ;  the  wish  being  in  all  probability  father  to  the 
thought.  But  the  Cardinal's  letter,  humble  and  sub- 
missive though  it  was,  spoke  of  the  treaty  as  a  thing 
already  assured,  and  showed  him  that  the  Minister 
anticipated  no  difficulties  other  than  those  of  his 
Majesty's  own  creating.  His  eyes  were  opened,  and 
he  saw  that  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  him  to  draw 
back,  unless  he  desired  to  take  upon  himself  the  entire 
responsibility  for  the  continuance  of  a  sanguinary  and 
useless  war,  and  the  universal  opprobrium  which  such 
an  action  must  involve.  His  grief  was  terrible,  and  in 
the  next  letter  he  wrote  to  Marie  Mancini  he  was  unable 
to  conceal  from  her  his  apprehensions. 

The  receipt  of  the  King's  letter  threw  the  poor  girl 
into  the  direst  distress.  She  recognised  at  once  how 
futile  had  been  the  hope,  to  which  she  had  clung  so 
tenaciously,  that  the  young  monarch's  devotion  to  her 
would  be  proof  against  the  pressure  of  the  immense 
interests  arrayed  against  them.    A  letter  from  Mazarin's 


1 62  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

creature  Ondedei,  Bishop  of  Fr6jus,  confirmed  her  fears, 
and,  finally,  she  learned,  through  Colbert,  that  Marechal 
de  Gramont  had  received  orders  to  proceed  to  Madrid,  to 
make  a  formal  demand  for  the  Infanta's  hand,  on  behalf 
of  his  master.  Her  pride,  stronger  than  her  love  and  her 
grief,  asserted  itself,  and  urged  her  at  least  to  secure  to 
herself  the  credit  of  being  the  first  to  break  the  ties 
which  her  lover  seemed  powerless  to  preserve.  She 
immediately  resolved  to  cease  all  communication  with  the 
King,  and  forthwith  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  to  inform 
him  of  her  determination  and  her  willingness  to  submit 
to  his  orders. 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal. 

"La  Rochelle,  3  September  1659. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — I  believe  that  presently  your 
Eminence  will  have  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  me, 
owing  to  the  course  which  I  intend  to  adopt.  I  have 
begged  the  King  to  consent  that  I  should  write  to  him 
no  more,  and  to  do  the  same  also  for  me. 

"  Your  Eminence  has  only  to  cause  him  to  show  you 
the  letter  which  I  have  written  to  him,  and  he  will 
see  that  I  am  not  deceiving  him.  To  conclude,  1 
entreat  your  Eminence  very  humbly  to  believe  that 
I  have  no  other  thought  than  to  conform  in  all  things 
to  all  h  ^  intentions  and  to  follow  implicitly  all  his 
commands. 

"...  I  shall  esteem  myself  very  happy,  if  once  you 
can  be  fully  persuaded  of  my  submission  and  gratitude. 
I  an,  as  I  should  be,  Monseigneur,  your  Eminence's 
very  humble  .   .  . 

"Marie  de  Mancini."^ 

1  Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi.'* 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  163 

This  letter  was  accompanied  by  one  from  Madame  de 
Venel,  confirming  the  good  news.  "  From  the  moment 
when  the  King  gave  her  [Marie]  to  understand  that  there 
was  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  marriage,"  wrote  the 
gouvernante^  "  her  conduct  has  undergone  a  complete 
change  ;  her  countenance  is  altogether  different ;  she  is 
gay,  amuses  herself,  and  behaves  as  Seneca  would  have 
done  on  a,  like  occasion  ;  she  has  made  so  many  moral 
reflections  that  all  the  philosophers  combined  could  not 
have  known  so  much  as  she  does.  I  assure  you, 
Monseigneur,  that  the  sight  of  her  present  conduct 
occasions  me  all  the  joy  imaginable." 

We  can  well  imagine  the  relief  of  the  anxious 
Cardinal  on  receiving  these  letters,  as  unexpected  as 
they  were  welcome.  He  had  opened  his  niece's  with 
serious  misgivings  ;  but,  after  perusing  the  first  few 
lines,  his  joy  was  such  that  he  summoned  the  Bishop  of 
Frejus  to  listen  to  its  contents.  Then  he  sat  down 
and  wrote  to  Madame  de  Venel  a  letter  expressive  of 
his  delight  at  finding  that  his  niece  had  at  last  proved 
amenable  to  reason,  and  referring  to  that  young  lady 
in  terms  strangely  different  from  those  which  he  had 
employed  in  his  celebrated  letter  to  the  King. 

Mazarin  to  Madame  de  Venel. 

"  Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  8  September. 
"  I  confess  to  you  that  I  have  not  for  a  long  time 
experienced  a  pleasure  so  great  as  that  which  I  have 
received  in  reading  the  letter  which  my  niece  has  written 
me,  and  the  news  that  you  give  of  her  present  state  of 
mind,  after  she  had  become  aware  that  the  King's 
marriage  was  absolutely  decided  upon.  I  never  doubted 
her  intelligence,  but  I  mistrusted  her  judgment,  and 
particularly  in  a  matter  wherein  a  strong  passion,  accom- 


1 64  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

panled  by  so  many  circumstances  to  render  it  furious, 
left  no  room  for  reason  to  act. 

"  I  reply  to  you  again  that  it  affords  me  the  greatest 
conceivable  joy  to  have  such  a  niece,  seeing  that,  of  her 
own  accord,  she  has  taken  so  generous  a  resolution,  and 
one  so  much  in  conformity  with  her  own  honour  and  my 
satisfaction.  I  am  acquainting  the  King  with  what  she 
has  written  to  me  and  what  she  has  done.  I  am  assured 
that  his  Majesty  will  esteem  her  the  more  for  it,  and,  if 
France  knew  of  the  manner  in  which  she  has  conducted 
herself  in  this  matter,  it  would  desire  for  her  every  kind 
of  happiness  and  give  her  a  thousand  blessings.  But  I 
am  in  a  sufficient  position  to  make  her  feel  the  results  of 
my  affection  and  of  the  inclination  that  I  have  always 
had  for  her,  which  has  only  been  interrupted,  because  it 
appeared  that  she  had  none  for  me  and  attached  no  im- 
portance to  my  counsels,  although  they  had  no  other 
end  than  her  own  happiness  and  peace  of  mind. 

*'  I  beg  you  to  express  to  her,  on  my  behalf,  that  I 
love  her  with  all  my  heart ;  that  I  am  about  to  give 
serious  consideration  to  the  question  of  marrying  her 
and  making  her  happy,  and  that  she  will  be  so  to  the 
last  degree,  if  she  applies  herself  earnestly  to  profit  by 
the  affection  which  I  have  for  her  and  the  esteem  I  feel 
for  her,  on  account  of  the  action  which  she  has  just 
done  ;  for  I  declare  to  you,  without  exaggeration,  that  it 
would  be  difficult  to  expect  the  like  in  a  person  of  forty 
years  who  had  lived  all  her  life  among  the  philosophers. 

"And,  since  she  is  pleased  to  indulge  in  moral  reflec- 
tions, you  must  tell  her  from  me  that  she  ought  to  read 
the  books  which  have  been  well  spoken  of  in  that  con- 
nection, particularly  Seneca,  wherein  she  will  find  matter 
to  console  her  and  to  confirm  her  joyfully  in  the  resolu- 
tion she  has  just  taken. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  165 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  she  loves  too  much  her  honour, 
aavaniage,  and  reputation  to  make  the  least  change  in 
that ;  and  you  must  tell  her  from  me  that  I  should  be 
in  despair  if  such  were  to  happen,  and  that  she  would 
lose  the  merit  of  the  finest  action  that  she  could  possibly 
do  all  her  life. 

"  I  do  not  send  a  long  answer,  because  this  letter  will 
serve  for  her.  I  desire  her  to  take  every  opportunity  of 
writing  to  me,  and  to  express  to  me  freely  all  her  senti- 
ments ;  for  I  shall  be  enchanted  to  contribute,  by  my 
replies,  to  place  her  in  a  position  to  be  loved  and 
esteemed  by  all,  and  to  procure,  in  all  kinds  of  ways,  her 
contentment. 

"  It  is  necessary  for  her  to  take  walks  and  indulge  in 
every  kind  of  amusement  which  may  contribute  to  keep 
her  mind  in  the  state  of  tranquillity  I  desire  for  her  ;  and, 
if  money  for  her  diversions  be  required,  you  have  only 
to  apply  for  it  to  the  Sieur  de  Terron,^  who  will  refuse 
nothing  which  you  may  ask  of  him." 

And,  the  same  day,  the  Cardinal  addressed  to  his  niece 
the  following  letter  : — 

Mazarin  to  Marie  Mancini. 

"  Saint- Jean-de-Luz,  8  September. 

"  You  could  not  give  me  a  greater  joy  than  by 
writing  to  acquaint  me  with  the  resolution  at  which  you 
have  just  arrived.  I  pray  God  with  all  my  heart  that 
it  may  please  Him  to  assist  you,  so  that  you  may  carry 
it  out,  as  you  ought  to  do,  for  all  kinds  of  reasons, 
being  able  to  tell  you,  without  flattering  you,  that  you 
could  do  nothing  in  your  whole  life  which  would  give 
you  more  honour  and  glory  than  what  you  will  derive 

^  Colbert  de  Terron,  Governor  of  La  Rochelle. 


i66  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

from  the  action  which  you  have  just  done.  I  am  writing 
at  length  to  Madame  de  Venel.  That  is  why  I  shall 
not  say  anything  further  here,  since  I  could  only  repeat 
to  you  the  same  things.  I  beg  you  only  to  be  assured 
of  my  regard  and  affection,  and  that  I  shall  not  delay  in 
giving  you  proofs  of  it  on  all  occasions." 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  King  declines  to  accept  Marie  Mancini's  decision  and  continues  to 
write  to  her — She  refuses  to  reply  to  his  letters — Letter  of  Mazarin 
to  the  King — Reports  of  Madame  de  Venel — The  Cardinal's  nieces 
remove  from  La  Rochelle  to  Brouage — Letter  of  Marie  to  her  uncle 
— The  King  persists  in  writing  to  Marie,  who,  however,  continues 
inflexible — Letters  of  Mazarin  to  his  nieces — Rhyming  response  of 
Marianne — The  Cardinal  sends  his  confidential  agent  Bartet  to 
Bordeaux  to  keep  watch  upon  the  actions  of  the  King — Kis  reports — 
The  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  at  Mazarin's  request,  endeavours  to  regain 
her  former  influence  over  Louis  XIV — The  King  sends  Marie  a 
present  of  a  little  dog — Treachery  of  Colbert  de  Terron,  Governor 
of  La  Rochelle,  to  the  Cardinal — Marie  begs  her  uncle  to  find  a 
husband  for  her — And  expresses  a  preference  for  Prince  Charles  of 
Lorraine — The  Constable  Colonna  demands  her  hand — Reports  of 
Bartet  in  regard  to  the  King  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons — The 
countess,  by  the  Queen's  order,  writes  to  her  sister — Despair  of 
Marie — Mazarin  sends  the  Bishop  of  Frejus  to  Brouage  to  propose 
to  his  niece  the  Colonna  marriage — She  refuses— Letters  of  the 
Cardinal  and  the  King  to  Marie — Return  of  the  Miles.  Mancini  to 
Paris — Severe  orders  of  the  Cardinal  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  to  conduct  themselves — Letters  of  the  King  to  Marie — A  touch- 
ing incident — Amusing  letter  of  Marianne  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal — 
Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine. 

TN  the  meanwhile,  Louis  XIV,  at  Bordeaux,  had 
received  Marie's  letter,  in  which  the  girl  announced 
to  him  her  intention  of  writing  to  him  no  more,  and 
begged  him  to  cease  all  communication  with  her.  The 
letter  appears  to  have  occasioned  his  Majesty  as  much 
astonishment  as  pain,  although,  aware  as  he  was  of  the 
proud  and  passionate  character  of  his  mistress,  he  ought 
certainly  to  have  foreseen  something  of  this  nature. 
However,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  believe  that  she 

167 


1 68  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

would  persist  in  such  a  resolution,  and  immediately  wrote 
her  an  expostulatory  letter  four  pages  in  length. 

"The  ordinary  courier  of  this  evening,"  writes 
Madame  de  Venel  to  the  Cardinal,  "  brought  a  letter  of 
four  pages  for  Mile,  de  Mancini.  After  receiving  it, 
she  told  me  that  she  desired  to  reply  for  the  last  time  ; 
that  she  had  forgotten  in  her  previous  letter  to  beg  the 
King  to  burn  her  letters,  and  wished  to  do  so.  She 
repeated  that  it  would  be  for  the  last  time.  I  answered 
her  :  *  But  what  is  your  pleasure  that  I  should  write  to 
his  Eminence,  after  the  letter  which  you  made  me  write 
him  by  the  last  courier,  and  which  you  read  ?  *  She 
responded  angrily  :  *  Tell  him  that  I  am  writing  to  him 
[the  King].' " 

The  King,  though  deeply  wounded  by  Marie's  persist- 
ence, still  refused  to  believe  that  she  would  continue  to 
resist  his  importunities,  and  wrote  her  letter  after 
letter  ;  but  the  girl's  pride  sustained  her,  and  after  the 
brief  note  begging  him  to  burn  the  letters  he  had 
received  from  her,  not  even  the  most  passionate  entrea- 
ties could  wring  so  much  as  a  line  from  her.  Over- 
whelmed with  grief,  Louis  had,  nevertheless,  courage 
enough  to  endeavour  to  conceal  his  sufferings  from 
those  about  him,  and,  to  find  some  distraction  from  his 
melancholy  reflections,  turned  his  attention  to  the  nego- 
tiations which  were  in  progress  on  the  frontier.  It  was 
then,  perhaps,  that  he  began  to  comprehend  something  of 
the  great  service  which  the  Cardinal  had  rendered  him 
in  combating  with  so  much  resolution  a  passion  which, 
if  it  had  been  allowed  to  take  its  course,  would  have 
been  fraught  with  such  disastrous  consequences  both  to 
himself  and  his  kingdom.  Any  way,  he  appears  to 
have  regretted  the  angry  and  imperious  tone  of  the 
letter  which   had   caused   Mazarin   such   consternation, 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  169 

and  now  wrote  to  the  Minister  in  the  most  affectionate 
terms,  begging  him  to  forget  the  rebuke  which  he  had 
then  administered  to  him  and  to  continue  to  write  to 
him  with  the  utmost  freedom.  To  which  the  delighted 
Cardinal  hastened  to  reply. 

Mazarin  to  the  King. 

"  Saint- Jean-de-Luz,  14  September  1659. 

"  If  I  received  with  joy  the  terms  wherein  it  pleased 
you  to  write  to  me  on  the  last  occasion,  you  will  readily 
believe  that  your  letter  of  the  nth,  which  I  have  just 
received,  has  rendered  me  the  most  contented  man  in 
the  world,  in  seeing  to  what  degree  it  pleases  you  to 
honour  me  with  the  assurances  of  your  friendship. 
And,  although  you  render  me  justice  when  you  tell  me 
that  you  recognise  clearly  that  I  have  no  other  end  in 
all  that  I  have  written  to  you,  save  your  credit,  your 
tranquillity,  and  the  welfare  of  your  service,  I  am,  not- 
withstanding, under  infinite  obligations  to  you  for  the 
same  ;  and,  whatever  resolution  I  had  taken  to  the  con- 
trary, I  shall  execute  with  pleasure  the  order  which  you 
give  me,  always  to  write  to  you  freely  all  my  opinions  in 
matters  which  concern  your  service. 

"  I  have  not  dared  to  inform  you  how  satisfied  I  am 
with  the  person  you  wot  of  [Marie  Mancini],  for  I 
feared  that  perhaps  it  might  not  be  agreeable  to  you, 
for  which  reason  I  addressed  myself  to  the  confidante 
[the  Queen],  well  knowing  that  she  would  tell  you 
everything. 

"  I  entreat  you  now  to  profit  by  the  grace  that  God 
has  bestowed  on  you  in  giving  you  so  excellent  an 
example  to  follow,  and  you  will  see  that,  if  you  take  a 
generous  resolution  to  endeavour  to  obtain  the  mastery 
over  yourself,  you  will  have  peace  of  mind  and  will  give 


lyo  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

it  also  to  the  said  person,  and  you  will  place  yourself 
also  in  a  position  to  find  happiness  in  your  marriage, 
for  I  assure  you  the  Infanta  will  give  you  reason  to 
be  so. 

"  To  conclude,  I  know  not  how  to  tell  you  how  much 
I  love  the  person  whom  I  did  not  believe  capable  of  an 
action  such  as  she  has  just  done,  and  I  esteem  her  the 
more,  inasmuch  as  it  was  the  only  remedy  capable  of 
placing  you  in  a  position  to  conquer  your  passion." 

During  this  unexpected  crisis,  Madame  de  Venel  sent 
daily  bulletins  to  the  Cardinal,  who  had  strictly  en- 
joined upon  her  to  give  him  immediate  warning  should 
she  note  the  slightest  sign  of  wavering  on  the  part  of 
his  niece. 

"  Mademoiselle,"  writes  the  gouvernante^  under  date 
lo  September,  "has  received  her  letter  [from  the  King] 
as  usual,  but  she  will  make  no  reply  to  it.  She  did  me 
the  honour  to  tell  me  this  evening  that  she  will  never 
write  any  more.  .  .  .  She  will  go  to  Brouage  next  week, 
to  amuse  herself  for  some  days." 

And  again,  on  15  September  : 

"  Mademoiselle  starts  to-morrow  for  Brouage.  Made- 
moiselle's state  of  mind  is  better  than  your  Eminence 
could  possibly  desire,  and  very  assuredly  I  believe  it 
entirely  at  ease.  Saturday  last,  she  did  not  write,  nor 
did  any  one  write  a  line  on  her  behalf.  She  amuses 
herself  very  well  ;  she  is  just  now  playing  at  blindman's 
buff  with  M.  de  Lionne.  If  she  finds  Brouage  more  to 
her  liking,  she  will  remain  there ;  if  not,  she  will  return 
here  to  await  what  your  Eminence  will  have  the  good- 
ness to  do  for  her.  Assuredly,  the  letter  which  your 
Eminence  wrote  her  has  entirely  confirmed  her  in  her 
generous  resolution." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  171 

And  then,  on  the  morrow,  from  Brouage  : 

"  Mesdemolselles  arrived  yesterday  in  this  town  in 
good  health  ;  the  garrison  gave  them  the  best  reception 
they  could  ;  cannon  fired  salutes,  and  the  intendant 
entertained  them  magnificently.  Mademoiselle  forti- 
fies herself  every  day  in  her  generous  resolution  ;  she 
has  never  been  so  gay  ;  she  plays  for  high  stakes,  and 
won  thirty' pistoles  off  the  intendant." 

In  a  further  letter,  dated  the  20th,  the  Cardinal  was 
Informed  that  "  Mademoiselle  de  Mancini  had  received 
no  letter  by  that  day's  courier,"  and  that  "  Mademoiselle's 
mind  appeared  very  tranquil." 

On  her  arrival  at  Brouage,  Marie  herself  hastened  to 
write  a  reassuring  letter  to  her  uncle. 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal, 

"  Brouage,  15  September. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR,  —  I  cannot  omit  to  thank  your 
Eminence  for  all  the  kindness  and  affection  which 
you  express  for  me.  For  my  part,  at  present,  I  do 
everything  possible  to  find  distraction.  I  arrived  yes- 
terday at  Brouage,  where  we  were  accorded  the  most 
courteous  reception  possible  to  imagine.  Since  your 
Eminence  has  the  kindness  to  wish  that  I  render  him 
an  account  of  all  that  I  do,  I  will  tell  him  that  I  amuse 
myself  the  most  part  of  the  time  at  play,  and  have  won 
thirty  pistoles.  Play  treats  me  in  the  most  unkind  man- 
ner imaginable  ;  we  do  not  play  for  high  stakes — indeed, 
we  could  not  play  for  smaller  ones — but  I  persist  in 
losing.  The  rest  of  the  time  I  amuse  myself  by  read- 
ing, particularly  Seneca,  wherein  I  remark  a  thousand 
beautiful  things,  which  I  find  in  addition  to  those  of 
which  you  have  told  me. 


172  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

"...  I  cannot  say  anything  more  to  your  Eminence, 
save  that  he  will  see  by  the  manner  in  which  I  shall  con- 
duct myself  that  I  have  no  other  desire  than  to  do  my 
duty  and  to  please  him,  and  thereby  to  merit  all  the 
kindness  which  he  has  shown  for  me.  I  promise  your 
Eminence  that  henceforth  I  will  write  very  often  to 
Madame  la  Comtesse^  and  that  I  will  testify  to  her 
all  kinds  of  affection,  with  the  greatest  joy  imaginable, 
since  by  that  you  will  judge  of  my  submission  to  your 
orders.   ..." 

In  her  "  M^moires,"  Marie  informs  us  that  she  had 
resolved  to  go  to  Brouage,  a  dull  little  coast  town,  hem- 
med in  by  salt  marshes,  because  the  solitude  of  the  place 
accorded  better  with  her  state  of  mind  than  the  gaiety 
and  bustle  of  the  thriving  port  of  La  Rochelle.  Her 
latest  biographer,  Lucien  Percy,  however,  ascribes  to 
her  a  different  motive  : 

"  She  had  not  forgotten  her  uncle's  threat  to  remove 
her  by  force  out  of  the  King's  reach  ;  the  King  had  not 
concealed  it  from  her ;  and,  in  the  alternations  of  despair 
and  of  fleeting  hope  to  which  she  was  a  prey,  the  poor 
child  still  believed,  for  a  moment,  in  the  possibility  of 
the  Spanish  marriage  being  broken  off;  in  which  event, 
it  would  have  been  easier  for  her  to  escape  from  that 
place  in  a  little  boat  belonging  to  the  fishermen,  of 
whom  there  were  a  great  number  at  Brouage,  than  from 
the  port  of  La  Rochelle,  full  of  large  vessels,  to  all  the 
officers  of  which  she  was  known.  We  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  this  advice  had  been  given  her 
by  the  King,  before  the  interruption  of  their  corre^ 
spondence."  ^ 

Louis   XIV    continued    to    write    every   day    to    his 

^  Her  sister  Olympe,  Comtesse  de  Soissons. 
2  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  173 

inamorata,  who,  however,  remained  inflexible  in  her 
resolution  not  to  reply,  and  sent  her  uncle  renewed 
assurances  of  her  entire  submission  to  his  wishes. 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal. 

"  October  1659. 
"...  I  received  to-day  a  little  letter  from  the  King. 
It  contained  but  two  lines,  wherein  he  expresses  to  me 
the  joy  that  he  experiences  in  observing  that  your 
Eminence  is  so  satisfied  with  me.  1  confess  to  you  that 
I  have  had  no  small  difficulty  in  preventing  myself  from 
writing  to  him,  and  what  gives  me  strength  to  do  it 
is  my  duty  and  my  desire  to  satisfy  your  Eminence.  I 
wish  thereby  to  make  you  understand  that  I  am  the 
most  devoted  of  nieces." 

Mazarin  replied,  praising  her  firmness,  which,  he  de- 
clared, was  such  as  no  longer  to  permit  him  to  fear  any 
change,  and  assuring  her  that  he  would  lose  no  oppor- 
tunity of  giving  her  proofs  of  his  afi'ection,  and  that  she 
would  find  in  him  "  not  only  a  good  uncle,  but  a  father 
who  loved  her  with  all  his  heart."  He  advises  her  to 
seek  distraction,  to  go  and  spend  a  few  days  in  the 
pretty  Isle  of  Oleron,  recommends  her  to  hunt  and  to 
fish  and  to  entertain  her  friends,  and  informs  her  that 
he  has  directed  Madame  de  Venel  to  supply  her  with  all 
the  money  she  may  require. 

The  Cardinal  also  wrote  to  his  other  nieces.  He  begs 
Hortense  to  take  no  heed  to  what  Marianne  says  in 
disparagement  of  her  writing  and  her  style,  as  he  is 
quite  satisfied  with  both,  but  to  continue  to  write  to 
him.  He  praises  Marianne's  verses,  which  afford  him 
great  pleasure,  advises  her,  when  she  is  at  a  loss  for  a 
rhyme,  to  seek  her  sisters'  assistance,  and  concludes  by 
assuring  her  that  no  one  loves  her  as  he  does. 


174  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Marianne  was  much  flattered  by  his  Eminence's  letter, 
and  lost  no  time  in  sending  him  further  proofs  of  her 
proficiency  in  verse-making. 

Marianne  to  the  Cardinal. 

"  i^*"  October  1659. 
*'Des  quej'ai  regu  votre  lettre 
Elle  m'a  donne  une  si  grande  joie 
Qui  si  I'on  m'eut  fait  roi ! 
Je  suis  si  aise  que  mes  vers 
Vous  divertissent  quoiqu'ils  soient  de  travers ! 
Mais  lis  sont  fort  beaux  pour  une  personne  de  mon  age. 
Qui  n'est  pas  volage. 
Vous  avez  ecrit  a  ma  soeur  Hortense 
Qu'elle  ecrive  tous  les  ordinaires 
Et  je  crois  que  ses  vers 
Ne  seront  pas  de  bon  air 
Quand  lis  seraient  du  meilleur  air,  je  pense 

Que  les  miens  les  effaceront 
Car  ils  ont  plus  d'esprit  et  de  raison. 
Vous  me  dites  de  prier  mes  soeurs  d'achever  mes  rimes, 
Mais  j'ai  I'esprit  trop  magnanime. 
Ma  soeur  Hortense  m'a  prie  je  ne  sais  combien 
De  finir  sa  lettre  qui  ne  vaut  rien ; 
Elle  m'a  fort  etourdie 
Et  lisant  toutes  ses  folies, 
Et  moi  je  vous  dis  sagement  r 
Je  veux  que  vous  soyez  mon  amant 
Et  je  vous  aimerai  tendrement 
Jusques  au  jour  du  jugement."  ^ 

In  spite  of  the  reassuring  letters  which  he  received 
rrom  Marie,  confirmed  as  they  were  by  the  daily  reports 
of  Madame  de  Venel,  Mazarin  was  still  far  from 
satisfied  that  the  affair  which  had  caused  him  such 
terrible  anxiety  was  definitely  at  an  end.  The  persist- 
ence with  which  Louis  XIV  continued  to  write  to  the 
1  Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  175 

girl,  notwithstanding  her  obstinate  refusal  to  reply  to 
his  letters,  seemed  to  indicate  that  his  Majesty's 
passion  had  been  very  far  from  extinguished  by  the 
unexpected  turn  events  had  taken,  and  caused  the 
Cardinal  much  uneasiness.  He  felt  the  necessity  of 
having  a  confidential  agent  near  the  person  of  the  King, 
who  could  be  trusted  to  discharge  there  a  similar 
function  to,  that  which  Madame  de  Venel  exercised  so 
efficiently  at  Brouage  ;  and,  accordingly,  despatched  his 
confidant  Bartet  to  Bordeaux,  ostensibly  on  a  mission 
to  the  Queen,  but  in  reality  to  keep  watch  over  his 
Majesty  and  furnish  his  patron  with  a  full  and  particular 
account  of  all  his  actions, 

Bartet's  reports  did  not  tend  to  allay  the  Cardinal's 
apprehensions.  He  wrote  that  the  King  seemed  greatly 
depressed  ;  that  he  was  always  very  reticent  on  the 
subject  of  the  Infanta,  and  did  not  appear  to  take  the 
faintest  interest  in  what  Bartet,  who  had  lately  been 
in  Spain,  had  ventured  to  tell  him  about  that  princess. 
Moreover,  he  appeared  to  have  no  heart  for  the  gaieties 
of  the  Court,  and  had  declined  to  be  present  at  a  ball 
given  by  Monsieur.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a  com- 
pany of  strolling- players,  which  had  recently  visited 
La  Rochelle,  gave  a  performance  at  Bordeaux,  his 
Majesty  had  attended  it,  and  had  questioned  the  actors 
as  to  whether  the  Mesdemoiselles  Mancini  had  patron- 
ised their  entertainment.  Bartet  added  that,  during 
the  evening,  the  King  seemed  very  sad  and  did  not  speak 
a  word  to  any  one. 

The  Cardinal,  on  his  agent's  advice,  now  resolved  to 
enlist  the  good  offices  of  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  and 
begged  her  to  leave  no  means  untried  to  recover  the 
influence  over  the  King  of  which  her  younger  sicter 
had  deprived  her.     The  ambitious  and  jealous  Olympe 


176  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

consented  readily  enough,  and  made  "  every  imaginable 
advance"  to  his  Majesty,  who,  touched  apparently  by 
her  anxiety  to  please  him,  received  her  back  into  some 
degree  at  least  of  her  former  favour.  But  alas  !  the 
Cardinal's  satisfaction  at  this  news  was  very  short-lived, 
for  almost  directly  afterwards  he  heard  that  the  King 
had  sent  to  Brouage  a  present  of  a  little  dog,  one 
of  the  offspring  of  his  beloved  lapdog  Friponne,  with 
a  collar  round  its  neck,  on  which  was  inscribed,  "  A 
Marie  de  Mancini."  Nor  was  his  vexation  lessened 
by  his  learning  from  Bartet  that  the  departure  of  the 
little  dog  was  known  to  all  the  Court,  and  that  the 
Queen  was  "  greatly  disturbed." 

This  news  was  followed  by  intelligence  of  a  far  more 
alarming  character.  The  letters  of  the  King  to  Marie 
had,  as  we  have  mentioned,  been  addressed  under  cover 
to  Colbert  de  Terron,  the  Governor  of  La  Rochelle, 
who  had  handed  them  to  Madame  de  Venel,  to  be 
passed  on  to  her  charge.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  Terron  and  the 
gouvernante^  acting  on  Mazarin's  instructions,  had  made 
themselves  acquainted  with  the  contents  of  these  inter- 
esting epistles,  by  a  method  which  had  effectually  baffled 
detection.  Now,  however,  the  Cardinal  learned,  to  his 
amazement,  that  the  governor,  whom  he  had  hitherto 
believed  to  be  entirely  devoted  to  his  interests,  had 
been  playing  him  false  ;  that  the  letters  from  the  King 
which  he  had  handed  to  Madame  de  Venel  were  not  the 
only  ones  from  his  Majesty  which  had  reached  La 
Rochelle  ;  that,  by  the  King's  orders,  the  faithless 
Terron  had  held  long  and  frequent  conversations  with 
Mile.  Marie,  seeking  by  every  possible  argument  to 
shake  the  girl's  resolution  to  hold  no  further  communi- 
cation with    her  royal   lover,  and    encouraging  her  to 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  177 

hope  that,  since  it  had  been  found  impossible  to  cele- 
brate Louis  XIV's  marriage  with  the  Infanta  before  the 
following  spring,  it  might  not  after  all  take  place. 

It  is  amusing  to  note  that  his  Eminence's  informant 
was  none  other  than  Louis  XIV's  own  confidential  valet- 
de-chambre,  Blouin,  "whom  the  Cardinal  had  purchased 
body  and  soul." 

Mazarin -was,  of  course,  furious  with  Terron,^  who, 
however,  entrenched  himself  behind  the  express  orders 
of  the  King ;  and  the  Cardinal  was,  in  consequence,  com- 
pelled to  overlook  his  delinquency  and  derive  what 
consolation  he  could  from  an  assurance  that  he  was 
deeply  penitent  and  would  offend  no  more,  but  would 
deal  with  future  epistles  from  his  Majesty  "as  his 
Eminence  might  be  pleased  to  order  him." 

This  discovery  troubled  Mazarin  beyond  measure, 
for  it  showed  him  that  Louis's  passion  was  still  as 
lively  as  ever,  and  he  had  serious  doubts  whether  his 
niece  would  continue  to  resist  the  entreaties  of  her 
lover.  He,  accordingly,  determined  to  take  without 
delay  a  step  which  would  put  an  end  to  the  affair  alto- 
gether, at  least  so  far  as  marriage  was  concerned. 

In  the  early  days  of  her  rupture  with  the  King,  while 
suffering  all  the  anguish  of  wounded  pride,  Marie  had 
begged  her  uncle  to  find  a  husband  for  her  as  speedily 
as  possible,  to  save  her  from  the  humiliations  to  which 
she  felt  that  she  would  be  subjected,  should  Louis  XIV's 
marriage  with  the  Infanta  find  her  still  unwed.     At  the 

^  The  devoted  Colbert  was  greatly  enraged  at  his  relative's  treachery, 
which,  he  wrote  to  the  Cardinal,  was  a  reflection  on  the  whole  Colbert 
family,  and  made  him  feel  unworthy  to  subscribe  himself  his  Eminence's 
very  faithful  servant.  So  incensed  was  he  that  he  even  talked  of  pro- 
ceeding to  La  Rochellc  to  mete  out  punishment  to  his  faithless  kinsman 
with  his  own  hands  ;  and  the  Cardinal  had  to  send  him  orders  to  forego 
his  intended  vengeance. 


1 78  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

same  time,  she  had  expressed  a  strong  disinclination  to 
become  the  wife  of  a  foreign  prince,  above  all  of  an 
Italian  or  a  Spaniard,  and  had  intimated  her  preference 
for  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine,  nephew  and  heir  of 
the  reigning  Duke,  the  eccentric  Charles  IV,  of  whose 
good  qualities  she  had  heard  much  while  at  Court. 
The  Cardinal  was  more  than  a  little  doubtful  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  his  niece's  choice,  deeming  that  the  greater 
the  distance  he  could  contrive  to  place  between  her  and 
Paris,  the  better  it  would  be  for  the  peace  of  mind  of 
all  parties  concerned.  But,  since  it  appeared  to  him  to 
be  advisable  to  humour  her  at  this  juncture,  he  now 
wrote  to  inform  her  that  he  was  sending  the  Bishop  of 
Frejus  to  Brouage,  with  proposals  of  marriage  on  behalf 
of  the  Prince  of  Lorraine.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  had 
had  no  dealings  whatever  with  the  prince  in  question, 
and  was  at  that  moment  in  constant  communication 
with  Don  Pedro  Colonna,  whom  he  saw  almost  every- 
day during  the  Conferences,  with  the  view  of  marry- 
ing his  wayward  niece  to  the  latter's  nephew,  Lorenzo 
Onofrio  Colonna,  Principe  di  Palliano,  Grand  Constable 
of  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  one  of  the  greatest  noble- 
men of  Italy  and  Spain.  Don  Pedro  wrote  to  his 
nephew,  at  Rome,  strongly  urging  the  advantages  of  a 
union  with  the  family  of  the  wealthy  and  all-powerful 
Minister  ;  and  the  Constable  accepted  the  proposition 
with  alacrity,  notwithstanding  that  he  was  perfectly 
aware  of  Marie's  love-affair,  which,  indeed,  was  by  this 
time  the  talk  of  all  Europe. 

Louis  XIV's  marriage  with  the  Infanta  having  been 
definitely  postponed  until  the  spring,  it  had  been  decided 
that  the  Court  should  spend  the  winter  in  Provence,  and 
accordingly,  on  7  October,  it  left  Bordeaux  and  pro- 
ceeded by  easy  stages  to  Toulouse,  where  it  arrived  a 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  179 

week  later.  The  Cardinal,  of  course,  remained  at 
Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  to  discuss  with  the  Spanish  plenipo- 
tentiaries the  last  clauses  of  the  Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees, 
which  was  finally  signed  on  7  November  ;  but  his  con- 
fidant Bartet  accompanied  the  Court  and  did  not  fail  to 
notify  his  Eminence  of  all  that  happened  during  the 
journey. 

"  The  King,"  he  writes,  "  has  found  means  to  play 
cards  all  the  way  from  Bordeaux.  On  the  second  day, 
he  quitted  the  Queen's  coach  and  entered  that  occupied 
by  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  and  Madame  d'Uzes.  They 
contrived  a  table,  on  which  they  played  high  enough  to 
lose  three  or  four  hundred  pistoles.  Up  to  this  time, 
the  loss  is  not  the  ladies' ;  it  is  the  King  who  loses." 

And  again  : 

"The  King  has  resumed  his  relations  with  the 
countess  ;  he  has  recommenced  to  talk  and  laugh  with 
her,  so  that  matters  are  progressing  as  well  as  one  could 
desire.  They  dined  every  day  in  the  coach  without 
leaving  it.  The  Comte  de  Soissons  has  also  resumed 
with  the  King  his  former  manner  of  paying  court  to 
him.  The  servants  and  those  about  them  are  certain 
that  things  are  going  from  good  to  better." 

And  then,  in  a  third  report  : 

"  The  King  lives  on  such  good  terms  with  M.  and 
Madame  de  Soissons  that  nothing  could  possibly  be 
better.  His  Majesty  entertained  them,  three  days  since, 
with  a  ball  and  a  play,  and  afterwards  they  partook  of 
medianoche'^  together,  having  passed  more  than  three 
hours  in  conversation,  perhaps  of  things  past  rather  than 
of  those  of  the  future." 

^  Medianoche  was  a  meat  supper  eaten  at  midnight  on  fast-days.  It 
was  a  custom  which  had  been  introduced  into  France  from  Spain.  There 
was  considerable  diversity  of  opinion  among  the  devout  as  to  its  lawfulness. 


i8o  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Bartet  adds  that  he  has  exhorted  the  countess  to  make 
even  greater  efforts  to  attach  the  King  to  her  than  those 
which  she  had  employed  "  previous  to  the  storm 
raised  by  her  sister "  ;  that  he  has  had  occasion  to 
reproach  her  with  a  lack  of  warmth  in  her  manner 
towards  his  Majesty,  which  has  caused  him  (Bartet) 
"  inconceivable  anxiety,"  and  that  though  he  hopes  for 
the  best,  the  fact  that  he  has  once  witnessed  his 
Majesty  escape  from  the  lady's  hands  "  into  those  less 
merciful,"  makes  him  a  trifle  dubious  as  to  the  ultimate 
issue.  He  concludes  by  urging  that  the  countess  should 
be  appointed  dame  d'honneur  to  the  future  Queen. 

From  all  of  which  it  will  be  gathered  that  Mazarin, 
who,  in  his  memorable  despatch  to  the  King,  had  ex- 
pressed such  righteous  horror  at  the  possibility  of  Marie 
Mancini  "assuming  a  position  which  would  dishonour 
her"  and  imperilling  the  wedded  happiness  of  the 
Infanta,  had  not  the  smallest  objection  in  the  world  to 
seeing  her  elder  sister  playing  the  same  role,  if  thereby 
his  own  ends  might  be  served. 

In  Bartet's  reports  to  the  Cardinal,  Anne  of  Austria 
appears  in  a  far  from  favourable  light.  "  The  Queen," 
he  writes,  "  does  not  know  herself  for  joy  at  the  renewal 
of  the  King's  relations  with  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons. 
1  believe  that  she  will  be  still  more  pleased  if  the  news 
flies  to  Brcuage,  where  it  will  doubtless  soon  arrive." 

It  would  appear  that  the  Queen's  horror  of  the  mis- 
alliance which  her  son  had  contemplated  was  such  that 
she  was  ready  to  welcome  every  means  whereby  he 
mjght  be  weaned  from  so  disastrous  a  step,  and  even 
the  taking  of  a  mistress  on  the  eve  of  his  marriage  was 
regarded  by  her  with  complacency,  since  it  seemed  to 
afford  a  kind  of  guarantee  against  any  revival  of  his 
passion  for  Marie  Mancini.     For  that  unfortunate  girl, 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  i8i 

Anne  had  conceived  the  most  violent  aversion,  and 
Bartet's  belief  that  the  news  of  the  rapprochement  be- 
tween the  King  and  the  countess  would  soon  reach 
Brouage  proved  well  founded,  for  the  Queen,  with  a  re- 
finement of  cruelty,  directed  Madame  de  Soissons  to 
inform  her  sister  of  the  fact,  a  command  which  that  lady 
joyfully  obeyed. 

Poor  Marie  was  in  despair  on  learning  that  the  first 
result  of  her  generous  renunciation  had  been  to  pave 
the  way  for  the  triumph  of  her  detested  sister,  and 
wrote  forthwith  to  the  Cardinal. 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal. 

"Although  I  wrote  two  days  ago  to  your  Eminence, 
I  cannot  prevent  myself  from  troubling  you  again,  to 
tell  you  of  all  the  grief  I  am  suffering,  and  you  can  form 
some  idea  as  to  whether  I  have  reason.  The  Comtesse 
de  Soissons  has  written  to  me  and  informed  me  that  the 
King  has  done  her  the  honour  to  converse  with  her  as 
he  did  formerly,  and  that  she  believes  that  I  have 
already  heard  this  news,  since  the  King  had  told  her 
that  he  had  already  written  to  me  himself.  These  are 
the  very  words  of  the  countess's  letter. 

"  Your  Eminence  can  see  by  that,  that,  even  in  this 
century  of  ours,  there  are  Job's  comforters.  But,  since, 
by  obeying  you,  I  have  afforded  her  reason  for  offering 
me  these  condolences,  I  ask  of  you  two  things  :  one,  to 
prevent  them  making  mock  of  me,  and  the  other,  to 
remove  me  out  of  reach  of  their  railleries,  by  marrying 
me  speedily,  which  I  very  humbly  implore  you  to  do." 

This  letter  caused  Mazarin  profound  uneasiness.  If 
Marie,  goaded  to  fury  by  the  taunts  of  the  Comtesse  de 
Soissons,  were  to  break  her  resolution  so  far  as  to  com- 


1 82  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

plain  to  the  King,  and  the  latter  were  to  discover  that 
the  countess's  letter  had  been  written  by  order  of  the 
Queen,  the  result  would  be  exceedingly  unpleasant ; 
and  it  might  very  well  happen  that  his  task  would  have 
to  be  begun  all  over  again.  He,  therefore,  determined  to 
raise  a  new  barrier  between  the  lovers  by  acceding  to  his 
niece's  request  to  find  a  husband  for  her  without  delay. 

At  the  beginning  of  November,  Ondedei,  Bishop  of 
Fr6jus,  arrived  at  Brouage.  He  was  the  bearer  of  the 
most  affectionate  messages  from  Mazarin,  who  assured 
his  niece  that  her  happiness  was  his  chief  consideration, 
and  that  he  was  desirous  of  doing  everything  in  his 
power  to  further  her  wishes  in  regard  to  Prince  Charles 
of  Lorraine.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  instructed  to  tell 
her  that  this  project  presented  great  difficulties,  and  that 
her  uncle  had  found  a  far  more  suitable  husband  for  her 
in  the  person  of  the  Constable  Colonna,  already  men- 
tioned, whom  he  was  most  anxious  that  she  should 
accept.  The  bishop  hastened  to  add  that,  of  course,  the 
Cardinal  left  her  perfectly  free  to  decide  the  matter  for 
herself,  nothing  being  further  from  his  intention  than  to 
force  her  into  a  marriage  contrary  to  her  inclinations. 
Marie  refused  even  to  consider  the  matter ;  and,  though 
Ondedei  remained  some  days  at  Brouage,  and  had 
several  lengthy  conversations  with  the  girl,  with  the 
object  of  impressing  upon  her  the  advantages  of  the 
Colonna  marriage,  he  was  unable  to  alter  her  decision. 
On  his  departure,  he  carried  away  with  him  the  following- 
letter  for  the  Cardinal : — 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal. 

"November  1659,  Brouage. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — I  have  several  things  to  tell  your 
Eminence  regarding  the  proposal  which  M.  de  Frejus 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  183 

has  made  to  me  on  your  behalf.  .  .  .  M.  de  Frejus  will 
be  able  to  explain  my  feelings  to  your  Eminence  better 
than  I  can  express  them  ;  but,  above  all,  I  beg  you  to 
be  persuaded  that  I  leave  absolutely  to  him  [Mazarin] 
what  relates  to  myself,  and  am  prepared  to  do  everything 
he  may  wish.  Nevertheless,  I  am  obliged  to  tell  you 
that  I  could  not  be  happy  at  Rome,  and  that  I  might 
even  render  the  person  who  married  me  unhappy,  for  it 
would  be  impossible  for  me  to  accustom  myself  to  the 
way  of  living  in  that  country.  Let  not  your  Eminence 
imagine  that  I  have  other  reasons  for  remaining  in 
France.  If  an  alliance  with  the  Prince  of  Lorraine 
cannot  be  arranged,  as  I  am  aware  that  it  presents  many 
obstacles,  let  your  Eminence  choose  whoever  he  may 
approve  of,  gentleman  or  prince,  provided  that  it  be 
soon.  That  is  all  I  ask  of  him,  since  I  am  beginning  to 
grow  very  weary  of  this  place. 

"  Monseigneur  de  Frejus  will  be  able  to  inform  you 
better  of  the  state  in  which  he  finds  me,  and,  if  you 
were  to  see  me  sometimes,  I  should  arouse  your 
compassion."^ 

The  Conferences  with  Spain  terminated  on  12  Novem- 
ber, and,  the  following  day,  Mazarin  started  for  Toulouse 
to  rejoin  the  Court,  where  he  arrived  on  the  22nd. 
The  Bishop  of  Frejus  arrived  a  few  days  later  and 
informed  the  Cardinal  of  the  result  of  his  mission  to 
Brouage,  laying  stress  on  the  state  of  exasperation  into 
which  the  King's  relations  with  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons 
had  thrown  Marie.  He  counselled  the  Cardinal  to 
endeavour  to  pacify  her  without  delay,  if  he  desired  to 
avoid  some  awkward  scandal. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mazarin  had  discovered,  on  his 

^   Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


1 84  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

arrival  at  Toulouse,  that  the  intimacy  between  the  King 
and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  was  more  apparent  than 
real  ;  so  much  so  indeed  that  he  began  to  fear  that  his 
Majesty  was  dissimulating.  He,  therefore,  spoke  to 
him  of  Marie  in  very  affectionate  and  sympathetic  terms, 
adding  that  it  would,  perhaps,  be  as  well  for  Louis  to 
assure  her  himself  of  his  remembrance  and  regard. 
Then  he  wrote  to  his  niece  a  soothing  letter,  informing 
her  that  "the  person  for  whom  she  had  the  utmost 
esteem  [the  King]  "  had  charged  him  to  assure  her  that 
nothing  was  capable  of  making  him  change,  whatever 
people  might  say  or  write  to  the  contrary,  on  the  ground 
of  appearances  which  had  no  foundation.  He  also 
promised  not  to  press  the  Colonna  marriage,  "although," 
he  adds,  "  I  know  that  the  Constable  Colonna,  head  of 
a  family  so  illustrious,  so  accomplished  and  so  handsome 
a  prince,  with  a  rent-roll  of  two  hundred  thousand 
crowns,  is  assuredly  one  of  the  most  brilliant  matches 
possible  to  find,  and  Cardinal  Colonna,  his  uncle,  has 
written  to  me  several  times,  soliciting  the  marriage  with 
great  eagerness,  since  he  prefers  it  to  all  others." 

As  it  had  been  decided  that  the  Court  should  remain 
in  the  South  until  after  Louis  XIV's  marriage  with 
the  Infanta,  Mazarin  judged  it  safe  to  put  an  end  to 
Marie's  exile,  and,  accordingly,  gave  directions  for  his 
nieces  to  return  to  Paris,  whither  they  set  out  at  the 
end  of  December.  Scarcely  had  they  started,  how- 
ever, when  the  poor  Cardinal  had  a  terrible  fright, 
for  the  King,  growing  weary  of  the  monotony  of  the 
provinces,  suddenly  announced  his  intention  of  passing 
the  rest  of  the  winter  in  Paris.  Mazarin  was  in  the 
utmost  consternation,  for,  if  his  Majesty  were  to  carry 
out  his  resolution,  he  did  not  doubt  that  all  his 
work  would  be  undone  in  a  very  short  time.       Happily 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  185 

for  his  peace  of  mind,  troubles  arose  at  Aix  and 
Marseilles,  and  provided  him  with  a  specious  pretext  for 
persuading  the  King  to  remain  in  Provence. 

During  their  journey  to  Paris,  Hortense  and  Mari- 
anne both  fell  ill,  and,  in  consequence,  the  little  party 
did  not  reach  the  capital  until  the  end  of  January,  where 
their  arrival  was  announced  by  the  rhyming  chronicler 
Loret  in  the  following  verses  : — 

"...  Les  illustres  Mancines 
Du  Louvre  a  present  citadines, 

Jeudi,  dans  la  maison  du  Roi, 

Arriverent  en  bel  arroi. 

Les  trois  pucelles  triomphantes 

Qui  valent  vraiment  les  Infantes, 

Mademoiselle  Mancini 

Dont  le  merlte  est  infini : 

A  savoir  I'illustre  Marie, 

Qui,  sans  aucune  flatterie, 

Fait  voir  un  coeur  place  des  mieux, 

Et  digne  du  destin  des  dieux.''^ 

The  Cardinal  had  given  orders  for  his  nieces  to 
take  up  their  quarters  at  the  Palais-Mazarin  ;  but, 
for  some  reason,  at  the  last  moment,  these  were  counter- 
manded, and  poor  Marie  had,  in  consequence,  to  return 
to  her  old  apartments  at  the  Louvre,  where  every  object 
served  to  remind  her  of  the  lover  who  had  spent  so 
many  hours  there  with  her.  To  add  to  the  bitterness  of 
her  regrets,  the  portraits  of  the  Infanta  seemed  to 
be  everywhere,  and  the  few  ladies  whose  visits  her  uncle 
had  authorized  her  to  receive  could  talk  of  nothing  else 
but  the  approaching  marriage. 

The    ratification    of    the    Treaty    of   the    Pyrenees 

^  "La  Muse  Historique,"  i  February  1660. 


1 86  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

(23  January  1660)  was  celebrated  everywhere  by  public 
rejoicings,  and  Marie  was  compelled,  by  the  Cardinal's 
orders,  to  assist  at  the  Te  Deum  at  Notre-Dame, 
while,  the  same  evening,  she  attended  a  grand  display  of 
fireworks  at  the  hotel  of  Marechal  de  I'Hopital,  Gover- 
nor of  Paris.  "  I  could  not  prevent  myself  from 
reflecting,"  she  writes  in  her  Memoirs,  "how  dearly  I 
had  paid  for  this  peace  over  which  all  showed  so 
much  joy,  and  no  one  thought  that,  but  for  the  sacrifice 
I  had  made,  the  King  would  perhaps  have  refused 
to  allow  his  marriage  to  be  accomplished."  However, 
in  the  midst  of  these  trying  circumstances,  the  girl 
showed  much  strength  of  character,  her  natural  pride 
coming  to  her  aid  and  enabling  her  to  disguise  the 
bitterness  of  her  feelings. 

If  Marie  had  hoped  to  find  some  liberty  in  Paris, 
she  had  counted  without  her  uncle.  The  Cardinal's 
orders  did  not  permit  his  nieces  to  see  more  than  a  very 
limited  number  of  people,  and  their  vigilant  gouvernante 
took  care  that  they  should  not  be  infringed.  His 
Eminence  was  anxious,  above  all  things,  that  the  young 
ladies'  conduct  should  provide  no  material  for  gossip,  and 
he  regulated  most  minutely  everything  which  concerned 
them. 

"  They  must  conduct  themselves  with  discretion  In 
Paris,"  he  writes  to  Madame  de  Venel,  "  for  many 
people  will  keep  a  close  watch  on  the  behaviour  of  my 
nieces.  I  am  perfectly  willing  for  them  to  amuse 
themselves,  but  In  such  a  way  that  no  one  can  find 
anything  to  babble  about.  As  for  their  visiting,  they 
must  go,  on  their  arrival,  to  see  the  Queen  of  England,^ 
and  pay  her  a  visit  once  a  month.  They  must  also  visit 
from  time  to  time  Madame  de  Carignan  and  Madame 

1  Henrietta  Maria,  widow  of  Charles  I. 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  187 

de  Vendome,  and  be  careful  to  caress  my  great-nephews  ; 
and  Madame  d'Angoul^me  the  younger,  who  is  the 
friend  of  our  family  and  very  virtuous,  Madame  de 
Villeroi,  and  Madame  de  Crequi.  And  I  do  not  wish 
that  my  nieces  should  go  to  the  play,  unless  in  the 
company  of  one  of  the  last-mentioned  ladies. 

"  I  do  not  doubt  that  my  nieces  will  be  very  satisfied 
with  the  manner  in  which  Madame  Colbert  will  treat 
them,  for,  besides  the  affection  which  she  has  for  my 
family,  they  may  derive  much  profit  from  her  con- 
versation. I  shall  be  very  pleased  to  learn  that  the  said 
lady  is  often  with  my  nieces,  when  they  will  act  as  they 
should,  if  they  pay  her  great  attention,  with  which  I 
shall  be  very  pleased." 

Poor  Marie's  dejection  continued,  and  the  prospect 
of  being  compelled  to  assist  at  the  fetes  in  honour  of 
the  approaching  marriage,  preparations  for  which  were 
being  made  on  all  sides,  did  not  tend  to  promote  a  more 
cheerful  frame  of  mind.  At  the  beginning  of  March, 
she  received  a  letter  from  her  uncle,  enclosing  one  from 
the  King,  to  which  the  Cardinal  directed  her  to  reply. 
His  Majesty's  letter  was  couched  in  coldly  conventional 
terms,  and  the  girl  did  not  doubt  that  it  was  the 
outcome  of  a  plot  hatched  between  the  Queen,  the 
Cardinal,  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  to  show  her 
that  Louis's  love  for  her  was  dead.  To  Mazarin  she 
replied  : — 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal. 

"March  1660. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — I  am  in  receipt  of  the  letter  which 
your  Eminence  has  done  me  the  honour  to  write  to  me, 
and  I  do  not  intend  to  fail  to  obey  your  orders  in 
despatching  an  answer  to  the  letter  which  you  have  sent 


1 88  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

me.  1  assure  you  that  it  is  conceived  in  the  terms 
which  you  would  desire.  What  troubles  me,  are  the 
reports  which  are  going  about,  and  which  cause  me  to 
doubt  greatly  whether  I  possess  the  honour  of  his  [the 
King's]  friendship. 

"...  I  look  forward  with  great  impatience  to  the 
month  of  May,  when  I  hope  to  have  the  honour  of 
seeing  you,  and  expressing  to  you  my  gratitude  for  all 
your  kindness." 

Some  days  later,  Marie  received  another  letter  from 
Louis  XIV,  enclosed,  like  the  first,  in  one  from  her 
uncle  ;  and  this  time  she  replied  to  it  without  sending 
the  letter  to  the  Cardinal.  But  the  King's  letter  caused 
her  nothing  but  pain,  since  all  that  she  heard  confirmed 
her  in  the  belief  that  he  was  paying  the  most  assiduous 
court  to  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  expressing  some  impatience  at  the  delays  to  which 
his  marriage  was  being  subjected.  Her  only  desire  now 
v/as  to  awaken,  in  her  turn,  Louis's  jealousy  and  marry 
before  him. 

All  the  ladies  of  Paris  were  now  busily  engaged  in 
selecting  the  toilettes  which  they  intended  to  wear  at 
the  festivities  which  would  follow  the  return  of  Louis 
XIV  and  his  bride  to  their  capital.  While  awaiting  the 
Cardinal's  orders  respecting  those  which  he  desired  for 
his  nieces  on  this  auspicious  occasion — for  Mazarin,  as 
we  have  said,  regulated  everything  which  concerned 
them — Madame  de  Venel  caused  all  the  costly  gowns 
which  the  girls  had  left  in  Paris  on  their  departure  for 
La  Rochelle  to  be  laid  out  for  their  inspection.  One  day, 
on  entering  her  room,  Marie  found  a  particularly 
dazzling  confection  spread  out  upon  her  bed,  and,  on 
catching   sight    of   it,   burst   into  a    passion    of    tears. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  189 

Neither  Madame  de  Venel  nor  Hortense,  who  were 
both  present  at  the  time,  understood  the  cause  of  her 
grief;  but  when  the  gouvernante  had  retired,  Hortense 
endeavoured  to  calm  her  sister  and  inquired  why  she 
was  weeping  so  bitterly.  "  The  last  time  that  I  wore 
that  gown,"  replied  Marie,  "  he  [the  King]  said  to  me  : 
*  That  toilette  becomes  you  ravishingly,  my  Queen  !  *  " 
And,  the  next  day,  she  informed  Madame  de  Venel  that 
nothing  could  induce  her  ever  to  wear  the  gown  in 
question  again. 

The  young  girls  grew  very  weary  of  the  monotonous 
and  secluded  life  which  their  uncle's  orders  compelled 
them  to  lead,  and  complained  bitterly  to  Madame  de 
Venel,  who,  in  her  turn,  lamented  in  her  letters  to 
Mazarin  the  ill-humour  of  her  charges.  She  was  also 
much  exercised  in  her  mind  at  Marianne's  constant 
demands  for  money.  "  Mile.  Marianne,  if  she  were  a 
preacher,  would  never  preach,  save  to  beg  for  money," 
she  writes.  *'  Besides  what  she  has  had  from  your 
Eminence  since  we  arrived  here,  I  have  often  given  her 
a  pistole,  and  sometimes  two."  The  money,  it  would 
appear,  was  lost  at  the  card-table. 

The  Cardinal  was  very  angry  with  Marianne  ;  but  a 
letter  which  he  received  from  that  young  lady,  or  rather 
the  postscript  thereof,  completely  disarmed  him. 

Marianne  to  the  Cardinal. 
"Paris,  the  13th  of  the  month  of  April  1660. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — It  is  a  long  while  since  I  have  done 
myself  the  honour  of  writing  to  your  Eminence  ;  but 
that  was  from  fear  of  troubling  you,  for  you  have  so 
many  affairs  to  attend  to  that  I  believed  you  would  not 
do  me  the  honour  to  read  my  letters.    I  shall  experience 


190  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

the  greatest  conceivable  joy  when  the  marriage  is  con- 
cluded, for  I  hope  soon  to  have  the  honour  of  seeing 
the  Queen  and  your  Eminence,  whom  I  await  with 
great  impatience.  I  beg  of  you  to  often  recall  to  mind 
Marianne  de  Mancini. 

"  P.S. — Monseigneur, — As  Madame  de  Venel  refuses 
to  give  me  any  money  without  your  Eminence's  orders, 
I  entreat  you  to  tell  her  to  do  so,  since  I  am  greatly  in 
need  of  it.  I  am  dying  of  fear  lest  my  pockets  may 
be  lined  with  the  skin  of  the  devil,  for  the  cross  always 
escapes  from  them.^  I  believe  that  those  of  my  sisters 
are  not  more  blessed  than  mine,  as  they  are  scarcely 
richer  than  myself.  I  offer  for  you  in  all  my  letters  the 
same  prayer  as  in  this  one,  which  is  that  I  may  always 
retain  your  affection,  etc. 

His  Eminence,  we  are  assured,  laughed  till  the  tears 
ran  down  his  cheeks  over  the  idea  of  pockets  lined 
with  the  devil's  skin  ;  the  Queen  was  equally  amused, 
and  the  request  of  the  audacious  Marianne  was  promptly 
granted. 

One  of  the  few  diversions  which  Mazarin  permitted  his 
nieces  was  that  of  taking  an  occasional  constitutional  in 
the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  always,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
escorted  by  Madame  de  Venel.  The  Cardinal  had  also 
given  instructions  that  they  were  to  go  very  simply 
dressed  and  masked,  as  he  did  not  wish  them  to  excite 
attention.  At  first,  Marie  had  taken  but  little  pleasure 
in  these  promenades,  and  had  often  excused  herself,  on 
one  plea  or  another,  from  accompanying  her  sisters  ; 
but,  on  a  sudden,  she  began  to  evince  quite  an  affection 
for  the  Tuileries  and  was  often  the  first  to  propose  a 
walk  there.    The  Argus-eyed  Madame  de  Venel  quickly 

^  The  pistole  bore  on  its  reverse  side  the  cross  of  Savoy. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  191 

perceived  that  this  change  had  coincided  with  the 
appearance  in  the  gardens  of  a  handsome  young  man  of 
distinguished  appearance,  who  seemed  to  regard  Mile. 
Marie  with  rather  more  attention  than  was  perhaps  quite 
consistent  with  good  breeding,  without,  however,  ventur- 
ing to  address  her.  Nor  was  it  long  before  she  made  the 
further  discovery  that  the  gentleman  in  question  was 
none  other  than  that  very  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine  to 
whom  Marie  had  so  earnestly  begged  her  uncle  to  marry 
her  in  preference  to  the  Constable  Colonna. 

Thereupon,  the  gouvernante,  to  the  intense  disgust  of 
her  charges,  was  forthwith  seized  with  a  diplomatic 
illness,  which  made  it  impossible  for  her  to  leave  her 
room,  and,  in  consequence,  for  the  young  ladies  to  visit 
the  Tuileries  for  some  days.  Madame  de  Venel,  of 
course,  employed  the  interval  in  writing  to  Mazarin, 
to  acquaint  him  with  this  new  development  and  to  ask 
for  instructions.  The  same  courier  carried  to  the 
Cardinal  a  letter  from  Marie,  bitterly  complaining  of 
the  conduct  of  Madame  de  Venel,  who  would  not 
permit  her  to  go  out,  and  whose  ill-humour,  she  de- 
clared, "  occasioned  her  more  suffering  than  his  Emin- 
ence could  possibly  imagine."  The  writer  concluded 
by  asserting  that  "  her  only  hope  of  escaping  these 
mortifications,  and  of  ending  the  torment  to  which  she 
was  at  present  subjected,  lay  in  his  Eminence's  return." 

To  Madame  de  Venel's  astonishment,  the  Cardinal 
seemed  inclined  to  ignore  the  attentions  of  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine,  and  that  prince,  in  default  of 
obtaining  permission  from  the  gouvernante  to  visit  her 
charges,  continued  to  follow  them  so  assiduously  in 
their  walks  and  drives  that  soon  all  Paris  was  talking 
of  it. 


CHAPTER   X 

Journey  of  Philip  IV  and  the  Infanta  to  the  frontier — Indifference  of 
Louis  XIV  to  the  preparations  for  his  marriage — Letters  of  the  King 
to  the  Infanta — Her  reply — The  marriage  by  procuration — Portrait 
of  Maria  Theresa — The  King's  present  to  his  bride — Interview 
between  the  King  of  Spain  and  Anne  of  Austria  at  the  He  des 
Faisans — Interview  between  the  two  kings — Marriage  of  Louis  XIV 
and  Maria  Theresa  at  Saint-Jean-de-Luz — Marie  Mancini  and  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine — Letter  of  Marie  to  the  Cardinal  after  the 
marriage  of  the  King — Louis  XIV  makes  a  pilgrimage  of  love  to 
La  Rochelle  and  Brouage — Charles  IV,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  becomes 
the  rival  of  his  nephew  for  the  hand  of  Marie  Mancini — Intrigue  of 
Mazarin  to  excite  the  King's  jealousy  against  Prince  Charles  of 
Lorraine  and  Marie — Visit  of  the  Cardinal's  nieces  to  Fontainebleau 
— Icy  reception  of  Marie  by  the  King — Her  grief  and  mortifica- 
tion— Mazarin  objects  to  his  niece's  marriage  with  Prince  Charles,  and 
urges  her  to  accept  the  Constable  Colonna — She  again  refuses. 

AT  the  conclusion  of  the  Conferences  at  the  beginning 
'^  ^  of  November  1659,  Mazarin  had  pushed  on  the 
arrangements  for  the  royal  marriage  with  all  possible 
expedition.  Owing,  however,  to  the  feeble  health  of 
Philip  IV,  which  rendered  a  journey  to  the  frontier  so 
late  in  the  year  out  of  the  question,  it  had  been  found 
necessary  to  postpone  the  happy  event  till  the  following 
April.  Further  delay  occurred,  owing  to  the  leisurely 
manner  in  which  the  Spaniards  made  their  preparations; 
and  it  was  the  end  of  March  before  the  King  of  Spain 
and  his  daughter  left  Madrid. 

So  soon  as  Louis  XIV  was  informed  that  his  bride- 
elect  had  set  out  upon  her  journey,  he  quitted  Avignon, 

192 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  193 

where  the  Court  then  was,  and  approached  the  frontier 
to  receive  her.  But  Philip  IV,  who  deemed  it  indispen- 
sable to  his  own  and  his  daughter's  dignity  to  travel 
with  a  retinue  which  extended  for  six  leagues  and 
required  four  thousand  sumpter-horses  and  mules  to 
transport  their  baggage,^  moved  with  unconscionable 
slowness,  halting  at  various  towns  to  allow  his  loyal 
subjects  to  entertain  him  with  bull-fights,  masquerades, 
and  other  amusements,  so  that  it  was  not  until  3  June 
that  Fontarabia  was  reached,  some  six  weeks  later  than 
had  been  originally  intended.^ 

Louis  XIV  evinced  a  most  profound  indifference  to 
the  preparations  which  were  being  made  for  his  wedding, 
save  so  far  as  regarded  the  horses,  equipages,  and 
liveries.  In  those  which  concerned  the  Infanta,  he 
seemed  to  take  not  the  faintest  interest.  However, 
since  it  was  necessary  to  express  to  his  fiancee  the  joy  he 
was  supposed  to  feel  at  her  approach,  he  obtained  per- 
mission to  write  to  her,  and  despatched  the  following 
letter.  It  will  be  observed  that  he  addresses  the  princess 
as  if  she  were  already  Queen. 

1  "The  wedding-garment3  of  the  bride-elect,  twenty-three  complete 
attires,  were  contained  in  twelve  trunks  lined  and  covered  with  crimson 
velvet,  the  hinges,  the  locks,  and  the  keys  being  of  silver ;  twenty  other 
trunks  covered  with  russia  leather  contained  the  linen.  There  were 
also  six  trunks  lined  with  crimson  satin,  their  hinges,  bars,  and  locks 
being  gold  enamelled.  Two  of  them  contained  presents  for  the  Due 
d'Anjou  (Monsieur),  and  the  others  presents  to  be  distributed  among  the 
ladies  of  the  French  Court.  No  less  than  fifty  sumpter-horses  were 
required  to  carry  the  articles  for  the  Infanta's  toilette,  and  twenty-five 
more  for  exquisite  hangings  and  tapestry.  In  addition  to  all  this,  there 
were  special  robes  and  liveries  for  the  entry  into  Paris,  a  sedan-chair 
adorned  with  silver,  worked  like  Flanders  lace,  and  for  charity  and  other 
gifts  the  Infanta  had  50,000  pistoles." — Bingham's  "Marriages  of  the 
Bourbons." 

2  According  to  a  letter  in  the  Thurloe  State  Papers,  which  is  cited  by 
Bingham,  the  wedding  had  been  originally  fixed  for  20  April,  and  the 
Court  had  intended  to  be  in  Paris  again  by  the  end  of  May. 


194  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

Louis  XIV  to  the  Infanta. 

"  Auch,  25  April  1 660. 

"  I  take  advantage,  with  the  greatest  conceivable 
pleasure,  of  the  permission  which  has  been  given  me  to 
write  to  your  Majesty,  and  to  assure  her  myself  of  all 
the  passion  I  feel  for  Her.  I  envy  the  happiness  which 
this  gentleman  [the  bearer  of  the  letter]  will  have  in 
beholding  her  sooner  than  myself,  and  although  I  have 
commanded  him  to  represent  clearly  to  your  Majesty  to 
what  degree  I  shall  esteem  myself  happy  when  I  can 
explain  to  her  my  feelings  by  word  of  mouth,  I  very 
much  doubt  whether  he  will  succeed  in  acquitting  him- 
self as  I  should  wish.  In  short,  my  impatience  is 
greater  than  I  can  possibly  express,  and,  without  the 
consolation  that  I  have  in  seeing  that  we  are  drawing 
nearer  to  each  other,  nothing  could  prevent  me  from 
coming  to  her  in  person.  In  the  meantime,  my  favourite 
conversation  is  to  speak  of  the  perfections  of  your 
Majesty  and  to  listen  to  the  accounts  which  I  hear  of 
them  from  all  parts.     I  am  entirely  your  Majesty's. 

From  her  childhood,  Maria  Theresa,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  France  and  Spain  were  at  war,  had  always 
regarded  Louis  XIV  as  her  future  husband,^  and  the 
portraits  which  she  had  seen  of  him,  and  the  glowing 
terms  in  which  the  Marechal  de  Gramont  had  depicted 
his  young  master,  when  he  came  to  Madrid  to  demand 
her  hand,  had  contributed  to  arouse  in  her  a  feeling 
which  was  hardly  distinguishable  from  love.  Knowing 
nothing   of  the   Mancini   affair,  she   believed    that  the 

1  According  to  Madame  de  Motteville,  her  mother  had  told  the 
princess  that  to  be  happy  she  must  either  be  Queen  of  France  or  a  nun. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  195 

above    letter   expressed    his   Majesty's   true   sentiments 
towards  her,  and  was  duly  enchanted  with  it. 

Soon  after  the  Court  arrived  at  Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 
where  the  marriage  was  to  be  celebrated,  we  find  Louis 
again  writing  to  his  bride-elect. 

Louis  XIF  to  the  Infanta. 

"  Saint- Jean-de-Luz. 

*'  Seeing  your  Majesty  approach  and  my  happiness 
with  her,  I  cannot  contain  my  joy,  and,  although  it  is 
impossible  to  express  what  I  feel,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
send  to  your  Majesty  the  Comte  de  Noailles,  Captain 
of  my  Guards,  in  whom  I  have  every  confidence,  to  tell 
you  that  my  delight  is  beyond  all  expression.  I  am 
enchanted  to  think  that  I  am  on  the  eve  of  being  able  to 
assure  you  of  this  in  person.  I  desire  it  with  a  passion 
which  has  no  equal,  and  which,  in  a  word,  corresponds 
to  the  merit  of  your  Majesty.  "  L." 

To  this  letter  the  princess  hastened  to  reply,  though 
in  more  measured  terms. 

The  Infanta  to  Louis  XIV, 

"  Fontarabia,  the  3rd  of  June  1660. 
"  Seigneur, — I  have  received  the  letter  which  your 
Majesty  has  sent  me  by  the  Comte  de  Noailles,  accom- 
panied by  the  demonstrations  of  attachment  and  joy 
which  our  nearer  approach  occasions  your  Majesty,  and 
which  this  nobleman  has  assured  me  he  has  remarked  in 
you.  I  have  received  this  assurance  with  all  the  defer- 
ence due  to  the  gallantry  of  your  Majesty  and  de- 
manded by  the  good  fortune  of  having  obtained  so 
great  a  favour.  I  shall  endeavour  always  to  deserve 
it,  by  conforming  to   the  wishes  which   your  Majesty 


T96  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Imposes  on  me,  desiring  that  God  will  grant  you  every 

felicity  such  as  I  desire.  ,,  i»,  «-  „ 

■'  "  Maria  Theresa. 

On  3  June  1660,  the  day  on  which  the  Spanish 
Court  reached  Fontarabia,  the  marriage  by  procuration 
was  celebrated.  The  ceremony  was  performed  by  the 
Bishop  of  Pampeluna,  Don  Luis  de  Haro  acting  as 
proxy  for  the  King  of  France,  with  the  Bishop  of 
Frejus  as  best  man.  The  bride  wore  a  kind  of  close- 
fitting  white  cap,  which  entirely  concealed  her  hair,  and  a 
white  satin  gown  embroidered  with  gold  and  precious 
stones,  which,  says  Madame  de  Motteville,  a  witness 
of  the  ceremony,  "  made  her  resemble  those  Spanish 
Madonnas  whose  figures  are  invisible  beneath  the 
profusion  and  stiffness  of  their  robes  woven  with  gold 
and  silver,  and  whose  heads  are  buried  in  enormous 
ruffs."  The  chronicler,  however,  adds  that  her  beauty 
triumphed  over  her  unsightly  dress,  "  an  infallible  proof 
of  its  greatness,"  and  proceeds  to  give  us  a  detailed 
description  of  the  princess's  charms,  from  which  it 
would  appear  that  Maria  Theresa  must  have  been  a  very 
ordinary-looking  young  woman  indeed,  with  fine  blue 
eyes  and  an  abundance  of  fair  hair,  but  with  a  diminutive 
figure,  heavy  features,  a  dull  white  complexion,  and  bad 
teeth. 

From  other  sources  we  learn  that,  though  of  a 
virtuous  and  kindly  disposition,  she  entirely  lacked  the 
faculty  of  pleasing,  and  was  gauche,  timid,  ignorant,  and 
bigoted  to  the  last  degree.  In  short,  a  greater  contrast 
in  every  way  to  poor  Marie  Mancini  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  conceive. 

On  the  following  day  (Friday,  4  June),  Louis  XIV 
sent  his  wedding-present  to  his  bride,  accompanied  by 
the  following  letter  ; — 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  197 

Louis  XIV  to  the  Queen. 

**  Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  4  June  1660. 
"  To  receive  at  the  same  time  a  letter  from  your 
Majesty  and  the  news  of  the  celebration  of  our  marriage, 
and  to  be  on  the  eve  of  enjoying  the  happiness  of  seeing 
you,  are  assuredly  subjects  of  indescribable  joy  to  me. 
My  cousin,, the  Due  de  Cr^qui,  First  Gentleman  of  my 
Chamber,  whom  I  send  expressly  to  your  Majesty,  will 
communicate  to  you  the  sentiments  of  my  heart,  in 
which  she  will  observe  always  more  and  more  an  extreme 
impatience  to  be  able  to  tell  her  of  them  myself.  He 
will  present  her  also  with  some  trifles  from  me." 

These  trifles  consisted  of  a  large  casket,  of  which 
la  Grande  Mademohelle  has  left  us  a  description.  It 
was  of  sandal-wood  inlaid  with  gold,  and  contained 
everything  that  one  could  possibly  imagine  in  the  shape 
of  jewels  in  gold  and  diamonds,  such  as  watches,  gloves, 
mirrors,  patch-boxes  ;  little  scent-bottles  of  all  kinds  ; 
cases  in  which  to  put  scissors  and  tooth-picks  ;  minia- 
tures to  place  in  a  bed  ;  crosses,  chaplets,  rings,  bracelets  ; 
a  smaller  casket,  in  which  were  pearls,  diamond  earrings, 
and  a  box  for  the  crown  jewels.  "  In  short,"  says 
Mademoiselle,  "  one  could  not  easily  conceive  that  a 
present  so  magnificent  and  gallant  had  ever  been  seen 
before."  ^ 

The  same  day  there  was  a  private  meeting  between 
Philip  IV  and  Anne  of  Austria,  who  had  not  seen  one 
another  for  forty-five  years,  on  the  He  des  Faisans,  where 
the  Conferences  had  been  held.'*     The  Queen  hastened 

1  "  Memoires  de  Mile,  de  Montpensicr." 

^  The  lie  des  Faisans  was  a  little  island  in  the  Bidassoa,  but  a  few 
hundred  feet  long ;  the  northern  half  belonged  to  France,  the  southern  to 
Spain. 


198  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

forward  with  open  arms  to  embrace  her  brother,  who, 
however,  received  her  in  the  most  ceremonious  manner 
and  merely  pressed  her  hands,  though  he  appeared  to  be 
no  less  moved  than  Anne.  A  little  later,  Louis  XIV 
arrived  on  horseback,  accompanied  by  some  of  his 
gentlemen.  He  came  incognito,  and  did  not  enter  the 
room  where  their  Majesties  and  his  bride  were  con- 
versing, but  remained  at  the  door,  and,  "  thrusting  his 
head  between  the  shoulders  of  Don  Luis  de  Haro  and 
the  Cardinal,  for  a  good  quarter  of  an  hour  regarded  the 
Infanta,  who,  at  a  sign  from  Don  Luis  de  Haro,  cast 
her  eyes  on  the  King  of  France  and  turned  pale."  As 
Louis  XIV  was  there  incognito,  the  Spanish  King  did 
not  salute  him  and  pretended  to  take  him  for  some 
private  French  gentleman.  But  he  remarked,  with  a 
smile,  to  his  sister  :  "  Tengo  lingo  Memo  !  "  ("  I  have  a 
handsome  son-in-law.")  When  the  Infanta  embarked 
on  the  Bidassoa  to  return  to  Fontarabia  with  her  father, 
Louis  accompanied  the  barge,  riding  along  the  bank,  hat 
in  hand,  followed  by  a  number  of  French  and  Spanish 
nobles. 

Two  days  later  (6  June),  the  two  kings  met  officially, 
for  the  purpose  of  swearing  to  observe  the  Treaty  of 
the  Pyrenees.  They  entered  the  conference  chamber, 
followed  by  the  grandees  of  their  respective  realms, 
and,  after  hearing  the  Treaty  read,  knelt  down  at  a 
small  table  opposite  one  another,  with  a  copy  of  the 
Gospels  between  them,  Louis  being  on  French  territory, 
Philip  on  Spanish,^  and  took  the  oath  to  respect  it. 
On  rising  from  their  knees,  they  embraced,  and,  crucifix 

1  With  a  punctilious  regard  for  diplomatic  etiquette,  the  building  erected 
for  the  Conferences  had  been  placed  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  and, 
•while  the  northern  part  of  the  principal  apartment  was  French  territory, 
the  southern  was  Spanish  ground. 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  199 

in  hand,  promised  eternal  friendship.  Then  Mazarin 
went  to  the  window  and  waved  his  hand,  whereupon 
some  cannon  stationed  by  the  French  on  the  northern 
bank  of  the  river  fired  three  discharges,  which  were 
answered  by  those  of  the  Spaniards  on  the  opposite 
shore. 

On  the  morrow,  the  whole  of  the  two  Courts  met  at 
the  lie  des  Faisans,  when  Philip  IV,  after  an  affect- 
ing leave-taking  with  his  daughter,  formally  handed  her 
over  to  her  husband,  and  took  his  departure  for  Madrid 
with  the  same  pomp  as  he  had  come,  while  the  French 
Court  returned  to  Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  where  on  9  June 
the  second  marriage  ceremony  took  place. 

Between  the  house  occupied  by  Anne  of  Austria, 
where  the  Infanta  had  passed  the  last  two  days,  and  the 
church  of  Saint- Jean  a  gallery  had  been  erected,  a  little 
higher  than  the  street,  and  along  this  the  royal  party 
made  their  way.  All  were  on  foot.  First  came  the 
Prince  de  Conti,  accompanied  by  two  gentlemen,  bear- 
ing blue  wands  covered  with  fleurs-de-lys  ;  Mazarin, 
in  full  canonicals,  followed  ;  after  the  Cardinal  walked 
the  King,  who  was  dressed  in  cloth  of  gold  covered 
with  black  lace,  and  wore  no  jewels  ;  and  behind  his 
Majesty  came  the  bride,  conducted  by  Monsieur^  while 
her  chevalier  d'honneur^  M.  de  Bournonville,  walked  on 
her  left  hand.  "  She  wore  a  petticoat  of  violet  velvet 
covered  with  little  fleurs-de-lys,  a  royal  mantle  of  the 
same  colour  also  covered  with  little  fleurs-de-lys,  the 
facings  being  of  white  cloth  edged  with  black  ermine. 
The  royal  mantle  extended,  without  exaggeration,  ten 
ells  ;  Mile,  de  Valois  held  one  corner.  Mile.  d'Alen9on 
the  other,^  and  the  middle,  which,  as  I  have  said,  was 

^  Miles,  de  Valois  and  d'Alen^on  were  the  younger  daughters  of 
Gaston  d'Orleans. 


200  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

ten  ells  in  length,  was  carried  by  the  Princesse  de 
Carignan.  All  the  princesses  wore  veils,  which  stretched 
about  four  ells,  on  their  heads  ;  they  were  of  black 
crepoji^  and  their  ends  were  held  by  three  gentlemen. 
The  Queen-Mother  followed ;  her  trailing  veil  was 
carried  by  the  Comtesse  de  Flers.  Mademoiselle  came 
next,  and  M.  de  Mancini  held  her  veil."  Throughout 
the  procession  to  the  church  and  the  marriage  ceremony, 
which  was  performed  by  the  Bishop  of  Bayonne,  the 
young  Queen  wore  a  gold  crown,  so  heavy  that  her 
dame  d'atours  (Mistress  of  the  Robes),  the  Duchesse  de 
Navailles,  stood  behind  her  holding  it,  lest  its  weight 
should  prove  too  much  for  her.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  ceremony,  medals  of  gold  and  silver  bearing  the 
portraits  of  the  King  and  Queen  were  distributed 
amongst  the  people. 

From  the  naive  confidences  of  Madame  de  Motte- 
ville,  it  would  appear  that,  for  the  rest  of  that  memor- 
able day,  Louis  XIV  showed  himself  as  much  charmed 
with  his  bride  as  if  the  match  had  been  one  of  inclina- 
tion, instead  of  policy  ;  while,  during  the  days  which 
followed,  "  the  Queen  testified  towards  the  King  the 
most  lively  affection,  and  took  pleasure  in  revealing  her 
passion  to  the  eyes  of  all." 

While  Louis  XIV  was  spending  his  honeymoon  at 
Saint-Jean-de-Luz,  Marie  Mancini,  in  Paris,  had  be- 
come the  object  of  the  most  marked  attentions  on 
the  part  of  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine.  Madame  de 
Choisy,  mother  of  the  famous  abb^  of  that  name,  and 
a  lady  who,  according  to  Mile,  de  Montpensier,  was 
"  very  much  given  to  match-making,"  had  suggested 
the  match  to  the  prince,  and,  having  taken  counsel  with 
a  certain  Abbe  Buti,  a  very  adroit  Italian,  whom  Marie 


M\ii  1  1.  I  m  ii!iiii!i'iiiiiiiiiii'  II 


--a^at^--'  ~  ii  1 1  illll'ilH  l'i"li  lli!li|i|ll!iililillll!l!iillHiiit!l|lliliiini!|! 


troiii  an  engraving  \>y  NantL-uil 

PRINCE   CHARl.KS  (AFTERWARDS   CHARLES   V)   OK    LORRAINE 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  201 

employed  occasionally  in  her  service,  the  latter,  "notwith- 
standing the  watchfulness  of  Madame  de  Venel,  found 
means  to  acquaint  her  with  the  intentions  of  Prince 
Charles."  1 

Marie  received  these  overtures  very  favourably  ; 
indeed,  as  her  latest  biographer  very  justly  remarks, 
she  would  have  been  less  than  a  woman  had  she  be- 
haved otherwise.  At  the  moment  when  the  return  of 
Louis  XIV  and  his  bride  was  about  to  expose  her  to 
the  sneers  or  compassion  of  the  Court,  a  handsome 
young  prince,  heir  to  a  great  name  and  a  great  fortune, 
had  become  a  suitor  for  her  hand.  Nor  was  this  her 
only  motive.  "  Mademoiselle,"  wrote  Madame  de  Venel 
to  the  Cardinal,  "  desires  to  cause  uneasiness  to  him 
who  has  occasioned  her  so  much."  One  thought,  in 
fact,  possessed  her  mind  :  to  be  married  before  the 
arrival  of  the  King  ;  to  show  her  faithless  lover  that 
another  had  been  ready  and  anxious  to  possess  the 
treasure  which  he  had  esteemed  so  lightly.^ 

An  interview  was  arranged  with  the  prince,  and  was 
quickly  followed  by  others.  Marie  was  delighted  with 
the  handsome  face,  the  charming  manners,  and  the  in- 
telligence of  her  suitor  ;  all  that  she  had  heard  of  him 
was  abundantly  confirmed,  and  she  felicitated  herself  on 
her  acumen  in  having  informed  the  Cardinal  of  her 
preference  for  him,  even  before  she  had  made  his 
acquaintance.  But  to  affirm,  as  do  M.  Chantelauze  and 
ArvMe  Barine,  that  she  fell  passionately  in  love,  shows, 
we  think,  an  inability  to  appreciate  her  character,  and  is, 
moreover,  disproved  by  the  sequel. 

The  prince,  on  his  side,  seems  to  have  become  as 
completely   fascinated   as   the   King   had    been,    though 

^  "  Memoires  du  Marquis  de  Beauvau." 

2  Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


202  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

how  much  of  this  was  due  to  the  lady's  personal 
charms  and  how  much  to  the  renown  with  which  the 
passion  of  Louis  XIV  had  invested  her  is,  of  course, 
difficult  to  say.  Any  way,  he  neglected  no  opportunity 
of  testifying  his  devotion,  and  Madame  de  Venel's  post 
was,  in  consequence,  very  far  from  a  sinecure.  The 
gouvernante^  needless  to  remark,  kept  the  Cardinal  in- 
formed of  all  that  was  happening  ;  but  Mazarin  sent  no 
precise  orders  and  appeared  inclined  to  allow  matters 
to  take  their  course. 

It  is  probable  that  an  alliance  with  the  House  of 
Lorraine  would  have  been  very  favourably  regarded  by 
the  Cardinal,  had  it  not  been  for  the  fear  that,  in  leaving 
Marie  at  the  French  Court,  the  King's  passion  might 
reawaken,  in  which  case  he  could  not  doubt  that  the 
girl  would  use  all  her  influence  over  Louis's  mind  to 
revenge  herself  upon  the  Minister  who  had  thwarted 
her  passion  and  her  ambition.  He  determined,  there- 
fore, to  adopt  a  waiting  policy,  and  to  come  to  no 
definite  decision  on  the  matter  until  the  King  returned 
with  his  bride  to  Paris,  when  he  would  be  better  able 
to  judge  whether  his  niece  might  remain  at  the  Court 
without  danger. 

A  few  days  after  the  royal  marriage,  that  young  lady 
wrote  to  her  uncle. 

Marie  Mancini  to  the  Cardinal. 

"Paris,  20  June  1660. 

"  MoNSEiGNEUR, — 1  have  experienced  the  greatest 
conceivable  joy  on  learning  that  all  is  concluded,  and 
that,  in  consequence,  it  will  not  be  long  before  I  have 
the  happiness  of  seeing  you.  You  can  well  understand 
that  I  have  so  many  reasons  to  cause  me  to  desire  your 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  203 

return  that  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  acquaint  you 
with  them  in  detail,  after  I  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
you.  I  am  well  persuaded  that  after  having  established 
so  gloriously  the  interests  of  France,  you  will  think  of 
those  of  the  person  in  the  world  who  is  with  the  utmost 
sincerity  yours,"  etc.  etc. 

In  spit^  of  this  letter,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that 
the  marriage  of  Louis  XIV  had  not  occasioned  the  girl 
the  keenest  anguish.  But,  as  we  have  already  observed, 
pride  with  her  was  always  stronger  than  love,  and  she 
was  now  feverishly  impatient  to  obtain  the  Cardinal's 
consent  to  her  marriage  with  Charles  of  Lorraine  and 
have  the  affair  publicly  announced  before  the  return  of 
the  Court  to  Paris. 

If  Mazarin  had  for  a  moment  flattered  himself  that 
the  much-desired  union  with  the  Infanta  had  extin- 
guished the  King's  passion  for  Marie  Mancini,  and  that, 
therefore,  it  would  be  safe  to  allow  the  latter  to  remain 
at  the  French  Court,  he  was  speedily  undeceived.  Their 
Majesties  quitted  Saint-Jean-de-Luz  about  the  middle 
of  June,  and  travelled  towards  Paris  by  easy  stages, 
receiving  in  every  town  through  which  they  passed  the 
most  enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  loyalty  and  de- 
light. On  reaching  Bordeaux,  Louis  XIV  suddenly 
announced  his  intention  of  leaving  the  two  queens  to 
continue  their  journey  to  Saint-Jean-d'Angely  and 
going  to  pay  a  visit  of  three  days  to  La  Rochelle  and 
Brouage.  He  desired,  he  said,  to  travel  incognito, 
accompanied  only  by  two  or  three  of  his  gentlemen. 

The  consternation  of  the  Cardinal  may  be  imagined. 
At  the  moment  when  he  believed,  or  at  least  hoped, 
that  the  King  was  wholly  occupied  with  his  young  bride, 


204  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

and  had  no  thought  to  spare  for  Marie,  this  fatal 
passion  was  so  little  extinguished  that  his  Majesty 
proposed  to  break  his  journey,  in  order  to  make  a 
pilgrimage  of  love  to  those  sacred  spots  which  had 
witnessed  the  sufferings  of  his  mistress  !  And  if  such 
were  now  the  feelings  which  possessed  him,  what  would 
they  be  when  he  returned  to  Paris  and  found  himself 
once  more  in  the  presence  of  his  enchantress,  and 
began  to  institute  the  inevitable  comparisons  between 
her  grace,  vivacity,  and  intelligence,  and  the  gaucherie, 
timidity,  and  ignorance  of  the  Queen  ! 

Anne  of  Austria  was  equally  alarmed,  but  Louis  had 
given  his  orders  in  a  tone  which  did  not  admit  of  any 
opposition  ;  and  the  sole  concession  which  Mazarin 
was  able  to  obtain  from  him,  in  order  to  minimize  the 
scandal  which  this  romantic  escapade  could  not  fail  to 
arouse  at  Court,  was  permission  to  accompany  the 
King  as  far  as  La  Rochelle,  on  the  plea  that,  as  he 
was  governor  of  the  country  of  Aunis,  it  would  appear 
strange  if  he  did  not  do  the  honours  to  his  sovereign. 

Leaving  the  Cardinal  at  La  Rochelle,  to  continue  his 
journey  to  Paris,  Louis  proceeded  to  Brouage,  accom- 
panied only  by  three  young  noblemen,  of  whom  one 
was  Philippe  Mancini,  but  lately  released  from  his  im- 
prisonment at  Brissac,  which  had  been  greatly  prolonged 
by  a  foolish  attempt  to  escape. 

The  King  stayed  two  days  at  Brouage,  during  which 
he  made  no  effort  to  conceal  the  melancholy  which 
oppressed  him  ;  and  Philippe  wrote  to  Marie  that  his 
Majesty  "wept  much,  as  he  walked  by  the  sea  in  the 
evening  ;  that  he  remained  there  until  very  late  at 
night,  and  sighed  deeply."  He  added  that  the  King 
had  expressed  a  wish  to  occupy  the  same  room  in  the 
chateau  which  had  been  allotted  to  her. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  205 

The  immediate  result  of  this  escapade  was  that  the 
Cardinal  sent  imperative  orders  to  Colbert  to  cause  his 
nieces  to  remove  at  once  from  the  Louvre  to  the 
Palais-Mazarin,  "  since  he  did  not  deem  it  expedient 
that  they  should  be  lodged  at  the  Louvre  when  the 
King  and  Queen  arrived  in  Paris." 

Those  young  ladies  looked  forward  to  the  arrival  of 
the  Court  with  very  different  feelings.  Hortense  and 
Marianne,  the  latter  of  whom  had  at  Easter  made  her 
first  communion,  without,  however,  becoming  any  the 
more  serious,  to  judge  by  the  nonsense  verses  which  she 
continued  to  address  to  her  uncle,  could  talk  of  noth- 
ing but  the  coming  festivities.  Marie,  on  the  other 
hand,  anticipated  the  coming  of  the  King  with  an  ever- 
increasing  dread,  and  could  scarcely  bear  to  visit  the 
Louvre,  "  for  fear  that  her  countenance  might  betray 
her."  ^ 

To  add  to  her  anxieties,  the  Cardinal,  though  prodigal 
in  promises,  had  as  yet  taken  no  steps  in  regard  to  the 
proposals  of  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine,  who  continued 
to  pay  her  the  most  assiduous  court.  Since  the  romantic 
pilgrimage  of  the  King  to  Brouage,  the  doubt  which 
Mazarin  had  always  entertained  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
allowing  his  niece  to  remain  at  the  French  Court  had 
given  way  to  certainty,  and  he  was  now  firmly  resolved 
that  the  Constable  Colonna,  and  no  one  else,  should 
be  her  husband.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  position  of 
affairs  in  Paris  had  become  much  complicated,  owing  to 
the  attitude  of  Prince  Charles's  uncle,  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  which  provided  the  Cardinal  with  an  excel- 
lent pretext  for  delay. 

This  eccentric  personage,  who,  according  to  the  ex- 
pression of  Voltaire,  passed  his  life  in  losing  his  States 

^   Letter  of  Madame  de  Vcnel  to  Mazarin,  7  July  1660. 


2o6  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

and  in  levying  troops  in  order  to  reconquer  them,  had 
shown  himself  on  his  accession  to  the  ducal  crown  of 
Lorraine  the  implacable  enemy  of  Louis  XIII.  He 
had  given  an  asylum  to  Gaston  d'Orleans,  after  that 
prince's  conspiracy  against  Richelieu,  and  had  induced 
him  to  marry  his  sister  Marguerite,  to  the  intense  dis- 
gust of  the  King  of  France.  Later,  he  allied  himself 
with  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II,  and  went  about,  at 
the  head  of  a  body  of  mercenaries,  burning,  pillaging,  and 
committing  all  manner  of  atrocities.  However,  he  did 
not  remain  faithful  to  his  allies,  who  revenged  themselves 
by  luring  him  to  Brussels,  where  he  was  arrested  and 
conducted  to  Spain.  A  five  years'  imprisonment  in  the 
Castle  of  Toledo  was  terminated  by  the  Treaty  of  the 
Pyrenees,  which  restored  to  him  Lorraine,  but  gave  the 
Duchy  of  Bar  and  the  Clermontois  to  France  ;  and  it 
was  his  anxiety  to  recover  his  lost  dominions  which  led 
him  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  his  nephew  and  Marie 
Mancini.  But  let  us  listen  to  his  biographer,  the 
Marquis  de  Beauvau  : — 

"  We  know  the  ill-will  of  Charles  IV  towards 
Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine.  Far  from  favouring  his 
project  (i.e.  the  marriage  with  Marie  Mancini),  he 
opposed  it  openly,  loudly  expressed  his  indignation 
against  those  who  supported  it,  and  went  so  far  as  to 
indulge  in  threats.  Such  a  scandal  could  not  fail  to 
wound  the  feelings  of  the  Cardinal.  But  the  Duke 
sought  to  persuade  him  that  he  was  only  opposed  to 
the  marriage  of  his  nephew,  because  he  desired  to  espouse 
Mile,  de  Mancini  himself^  and  despatched  the  Due  de 
Guise  to  him  to  make  a  formal  demand  for  her  hand. 

"  At  the  same  time,  in  order  to  break  off  his  nephew's 
commerce  and  his  project  of  marriage,  he  proceeded  to 
pay  frequent  visits  to  Marie  de  Mancini,  and  to  employ 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  207 

every  kind  of  cajolery  and  persuasion  to  induce  her  to 
believe  that  he  proposed  to  marry  her  himself. 

"And,  the  better  to  win  over  Madame  de  Venel  to  his 
cause,  he  threw  one  day  into  her  lap  a  jewel  which  she 
had  refused  to  accept  from  his  hand.  On  which,  it 
happened  that  the  lady,  having  dropped  it  into  the 
knee-piece  of  her  boot,  it  fell  to  the  ground,  and  was 
discovered  by  a  lackey,  who  profited  thereby,  since 
neither  the  Duke  nor  Madame  de  Venel  cared  to  lay 
claim  to  it."  ^ 

Far  from  being  discouraged  by  this  rebuff,  the  Duke 
sent  an  ambassador  to  Madame  de  Venel,  to  inform  her 
that  the  Cardinal  had  practically  accorded  him  his 
niece's  hand,  and  had  promised  him  the  restoration 
of  his  confiscated  States,  by  way  of  a  dowry — a  state- 
ment which  must  have  considerably  astonished  his 
Eminence,  when  it  reached  his  ears  ;  that  the  only 
obstacle  he  feared  was  the  aversion  of  the  lady,  which, 
however,  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  overcome  with  the  aid 
of  the  gotivernante,  to  whom  he  promised  mountains  and 
marvels,  if  she  would  consent  to  assist  him. 

That  discreet  lady  replied  that  she  was  much  flattered 
by  these  proofs  of  his  Highness's  confidence,  though 
deeply  offended  by  the  offers  which  accompanied  them  ; 
but  that  she  could,  of  course,  do  nothing  in  the  matter, 
since  Mile,  de  Mancini  was  far  too  well-brought-up  a 
young  lady  to  regard  any  suitor,  save  with  her  uncle's 
eyes.  And  forthwith  sent  an  account  of  the  whole 
affair  to  the  Cardinal. 

Charles  IV  was  quite  correct  in  his  belief  that  Marie 
regarded  him  with  aversion,  for  not  only  was  he  inter- 
fering with  her  plans  in  regard  to  his  nephew,  but  he 
was   himself,   apart   from  his   rank,  very  far   from  the 
^  "  Memoires  du  Marquis  de  Beauvau." 


208  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

kind  of  suitor  to  appeal  to  a  young  girl  of  her  tem- 
perament and  education.  He  was  fifty-six  years  of 
age,  "  with  eyes  like  those  of  a  cat,"  coarse  in  his 
tastes,  coarse  in  his  manner,  and  still  coarser  in  his 
conversation  ;  while  his  matrimonial  vagaries  and  in- 
numerable amours  were  the  talk  of  Europe.  He  had 
married,  en  premieres  noces,  Nicole,  eldest  daughter  of 
Henri  k  Bon^  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  it  was  through 
her  that  he  had  secured  the  ducal  crown.  Soon  after- 
wards, however,  he  declared  this  union  annulled,  and 
married  the  beautiful  and  witty  Beatrix  de  Cusane, 
Princesse  de  Cantecroix.  It  was  only  after  the  con- 
summation of  this  new  marriage  that  Charles  appealed 
to  the  Vatican  to  confirm  the  nullity  of  the  first ;  upon 
which  the  Princess  Nicole  solicited  on  her  side  the 
nullity  of  the  second.  The  Pope  decided  in  favour  of 
Nicole,  and  excommunicated  the  Duke,  who,  however, 
ignored  the  Bull,  and  continued  to  live  with  the  Princesse 
de  Cantecroix,  who  followed  him  in  all  his  travels  and 
was  surnamed  his  '■^femme  de  campagney  Nicole  died  in 
1657,  but  the  Duke  refused  to  ratify  his  marriage  with 
Beatrix,  and  it  was  not  until  the  latter  lay  on  her  death- 
bed that  he  consented  to  marry  her  by  proxy.^ 

In  spite  of  the  discouraging  reception  accorded  his 
ridiculous  pretensions  by  Mile.  Mancini,  Charles  IV 
continued  to  press  his  suit.  "  The  Duke  of  Lorraine," 
writes  Marie,  "  perceiving  the  intention  of  his  nephew, 
and    fearing    that    the    marriage  would    not    bring    his 

1  This  prince,  some  years  later,  became  deeply  enamoured  of  the  daugh- 
ter of  an  apothecary,  Marianne  Pajot  by  name,  who  is  described  as  a 
marvellous  beauty,  and  the  contract  for  a  morganatic  marriage  was  already 
drawn  up,  when  Louis  XIV,  at  the  instance  of  the  Duke's  sister,  the 
Duchesse  d'Orleans,  put  an  end  to  the  romance,  by  causing  the  fair 
Marianne  to  be  carried  off  and  shut  up  in  a  monastery.  Finally,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-two,  the  amorous  Duke  espoused  Louise  d'Aspremont,  a 
maiden  of  thirteen  summers,  by  whom,  however,  he  had  no  children. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  209 

Eminence  over  to  his  [the  Duke's]  interests,  and  that, 
as  the  true  successor  of  this  prince,  he  might  receive 
from  the  Cardinal  advantages  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
Duke,  decided  to  forbid  him  absolutely  to  pay  court  to 
me,  and  took  his  place,  without  reflecting  that,  at  his 
age,  he  was  unable  to  fill  it  worthily,  and  that  his 
persistence  in  following  me  to  the  Cours  de  la  Reine 
and  the  Tuileries  could  not  meet  with  the  same  success 
as  the  attentions  of  his  nephew."^ 

Mazarin,  who  was  of  course  kept  informed  of  all 
these  proceedings  by  Madame  de  Venel,  must  have 
smiled  grimly,  since  he  was  fully  determined  in  his  own 
mind  that  neither  uncle  nor  nephew  should  wed  the 
girl.  But  though  he  gave  no  direct  encouragement  to 
either  of  the  princes,  he  still  allowed  Marie  to  believe 
that  he  looked  with  favour  upon  the  suit  of  the  younger, 
foreseeing  that  Prince  Charles's  passion  for  his  niece 
might  ere  long  be  turned  to  good  account. 

Firmly  resolved  though  he  was  to  remove  Marie  for 
ever  out  of  the  King's  path,  by  marrying  her  to  the 
Constable  Colonna,  the  Cardinal  was  fain  to  admit  that 
the  execution  of  his  project  offered  serious  difficulties. 
Marie,  as  we  have  seen,  had  rejected  the  proposed 
alliance  in  the  strongest  possible  terms,  and  to  attempt 
to  force  her  into  it  would  be  worse  than  futile,  as 
Louis  XIV  would  most  certainly  interfere.  A  surer 
means,  however,  presented  itself  to  the  Minister's  mind. 
The  young  King  was  intensely  proud  ;  Marie  was  the 
same.  Let  Mazarin  but  once  succeed  in  awakening; 
Louis's  anger  and  jealousy,  by  inducing  him  to  believe 
that  Marie  had  already  found  consolation  for  her 
blighted  hopes  in  the  love  of  Prince  Charles  of  Lor- 
raine, and  all  would  be  easy.  The  King  would  treat 
^  *'  La  Veritc  dans  son  jour." 


2IO  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

her  with  coldness  and  disdain  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  Court.  The  girl,  unaware  of  the  cause,  and 
bitterly  humiliated  at  such  conduct  on  the  part  of  the 
sovereign  by  whom,  but  a  few  months  before,  her 
slightest  wish  had  been  so  eagerly  anticipated,  would 
ask  nothing  better  than  to  place  half  Europe  between 
the  Court  of  France  and  herself.  Then  her  uncle 
would  represent  to  her  the  objections  to  her  marriage 
with  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine  and  the  advantages  of 
the  Colonna  alliance  ;  and  there  could  be  little  doubt 
what  her  decision  would  be. 

The  plan  was  no  sooner  conceived  than  executed. 
The  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  who  had  come  to  Paris  to 
give  birth  to  a  son,  received  her  orders,  and,  on  rejoin- 
ing the  Court,  lost  no  time  in  recounting  to  the  King 
the  minutest  details  regarding  her  sister  and  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine  :  their  walks  in  the  Tuileries,  their 
drives  on  the  Cours  de  la  Reine,  the  devotion  of  the 
prince,  the  pronounced  encouragement  which  his  ad- 
vances had  met  with  from  the  lady,  and  so  forth  ;  and 
we  may  be  very  sure  that  the  tale  lost  nothing  in  the 
telling.  Anne  of  Austria,  on  her  side,  ably  seconded 
the  countess's  efforts,  and  neglected  nothing  whereby 
the  gossip  of  the  capital  concerning  the  lovers  might 
reach  her  son's  ears.  The  pride  of  the  monarch  re- 
volted ;  however,  he  took  steps  to  verify  what  was 
told  him,  but  every  one  he  questioned  confirmed  it,  for 
appearances  were  in  its  favour.  At  length,  on  13  July, 
the  Court  arrived  at  Fontainebleau,  where  it  was  to 
remain  until  the  preparations  for  the  solemn  entry 
of  the  King  and  Queen  into  their  capital  were  com- 
pleted. Louis  XIV's  first  care  on  meeting  the  Cardinal 
was  to  inquire  if  it  were  true  that  his  niece  was  to  wed 
Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine.     Mazarin  replied  that  the 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  211 

alliance  was  one  which  he  greatly  desired,  and  showed 
the  King  the  letters  he  had  received  from  Marie  and 
Madame  de  Venel.  Louis  read  them.  "  Cela  est  bien  /  " 
he  observed  coldly,  as  he  handed  them  back,  while  a 
dark  flush  of  anger  mounted  to  his  brow.  He  could 
no  longer  doubt  that  he  was  replaced  !  He,  the  King 
of  France  1  "  Few  men  allow  themselves  to  be  re- 
placed ;  Louis  XIV  never  allowed  it,  not  through 
vanity,  but  through  monarchical  faith.  To  reign  alone 
on  the  throne  ;  to  reign  alone  in  the  hearts  of  those 
whom  he  honoured  with  his  affection  ;  the  one  appeared 
to  him  as  much  a  matter  of  divine  right  as  the  other."^ 
Was  the  greatest  sovereign  in  the  world  to  be  exposed 
to  the  misadventures  of  vulgar  lovers  }  The  very 
thought  was  intolerable  ! 

Mazarin  heard  the  words,  marked  the  angry  flush 
on  his  sovereign's  brow,  and,  assured  of  the  success  of 
his  scheme,  returned  to  Paris,  and  ordered  his  nieces 
to  proceed  at  once  to  Fontainebleau  and  salute  their 
Majesties. 

Marie,  as  we  may  suppose,  obeyed  with  the  utmost 
reluctance.  "I  felt,"  she  tells  us,  "that,  in  entering  the 
presence  of  the  King,  1  was  about  to  reopen  a  wound 
which  was  not  completely  healed,  and  of  which  absence 
would  have  been  better  calculated  to  cure  me."  How- 
ever, there  was  no  gainsaying  the  Cardinal's  commands, 
and,  on  22  July,  she  set  out  with  her  sisters  for  Fontaine- 
bleau, all  three  arrayed  in  superb  toilettes,  which  their 
uncle  had  ordered  for  the  occasion  and  the  preparation 
of  which  had  delayed  their  visit  until  this  date. 

On  their  arrival,  the  girls  were  ushered  into  the 
presence  of  the  King  and  Anne  of  Austria  ;  the  young 
Queen   was   not   present,   having   postponed   all   formal 

^  Arv^de  Barine,  "  Princesses  et  grandes  dames  :  Marie  Mancini." 


212  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

receptions  until  after  her  entry  into  Paris.  Marie,  as 
the  eldest,  was  the  first  to  advance  to  salute  the  Queen- 
Mother,  in  so  painful  a  state  of  agitation  that  she 
scarcely  dared  to  raise  her  eyes  from  the  ground.  On 
presenting  herself  before  the  King,  however,  she  raised 
them  involuntarily,  and  met  those  of  Louis  fixed  upon 
her  with  a  look  so  cold  and  contemptuous  that  she  felt 
as  if  turned  to  stone.  So  overcome  was  she  indeed, 
that  she  had  scarcely  strength  to  make  the  three  curtseys 
prescribed  by  etiquette  before  retiring.^ 

But  she  was  not  to  escape  so  easily.  Just  as  she 
reached  the  door,  the  Queen-Mother,  who  had  not 
failed  to  observe  the  icy  reception  which  the  King  had 
accorded  her,  called  her  back,  and,  desirous  of  prolong- 
ing the  punishment  of  the  girl  whose  misplaced  ambi- 
tion had  occasioned  the  Cardinal  and  herself  such 
torments  of  anxiety,  began  to  felicitate  her  upon  her  ap- 
proaching marriage.  By  an  heroic  effort,  the  unhappy 
Marie  succeeded  in  mastering  her  emotion,  and  answered 
that  she  was  as  yet  in  ignorance  of  her  uncle's  plans  in 
regard  to  her  future.  The  Queen  would  have  ques- 
tioned her  further,  but  Mazarin,  who  was  present  and 
feared  that  Anne  was  going  too  fast  and  might  disclose 
their  plot  to  its  victim,  created  a  diversion  by  beginning 
to  jest  with  Marianne,  and  the  subject  was  allowed  to 
drop.  At  length,  the  girls  withdrew,  and  Marie,  has- 
tening to  the  apartment  which  had  been  allotted  them, 
gave  way  to  a  passion  of  grief,  which  the  sympathetic 
Hortense  essayed  vainly  to  calm.  "  I  could  not  have 
imagined,"  she  writes,  "  that  his  Majesty  would  have 
received  me  with  such  coldness  and  indifference,   and 

^  The  first  immediately  after  saluting  the  Queen,  the  second  in  the 
middle  of  the  room,  and  the  last  at  the  door.  All  the  curtseys  had  to 
be  performed  while  walking  backwards,  the  lady  kicking  away  her  train 
as  best  she  might. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  213 

I  must  acknowledge  that  the  astonishment  and  mortifica- 
tion  I  experienced  made  me  wish  every  moment  to 
return  to  Paris."  ^ 

However,  she  was  compelled  to  remain  at  Fontaine- 
bleau  for  some  time  longer,  and  to  strive,  as  best  she 
might,  to  conceal  the  grief  and  mortification  which  con- 
sumed her  beneath  a  smiling  countenance.  This  was  no 
easy  task,  nor  was  it  rendered  any  the  easier  by  the  con- 
duct of  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  who  took  a  malicious 
pleasure  in  rallying  the  poor  girl  on  her  low  spirits  when- 
ever the  King  happened  to  be  within  hearing.  "  You 
find  the  time  pass  slowly  when  you  are  away  from  Paris," 
she  observed  to  her  one  day  ;  "nor  am  I  surprised,  since 
you  have  left  your  gallant  there."  To  which  Marie, 
who  entertained  no  doubt  that  her  amiable  sister  was  en- 
deavouring to  embitter  the  King's  mind  against  her, 
coldly  replied  :  "That  is  possible,  Madame";  a  remark 
which  appears  to  have  still  further  alienated  his  Majesty. 

Louis  XIV,  indeed,  felt  the  deepest  resentment  against 
her  whom  he  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  forgetting.  He 
thought  bitterly  that  at  the  very  moment  that  he  was 
making  his  romantic  pilgrimage  to  Brouage,  this  woman 
whom  he  had  so  dearly  loved  was  giving  to  another  the 
heart  which  he  had  imagined  to  be  his  for  ever.  "  In  his 
first  indignation  he  did  not  pause  to  reflect,"  remarks 
the  lady's  sympathetic  biographer,  Lucien  Perey,  "  that 
his  marriage  had  reduced  Marie  to  despair.  He  did 
not  make  allowance  for  the  height  from  which  she  had 
fallen,  for  the  suffering  and  the  irritation  which  she 
experienced  on  seeing  these  same  courtiers,  who,  a  year 
before,  had  treated  her  with  the  deference  due  to  a 
queen,  to-day  rally  her  pitilessly  or  affect  a  compassion 
more  humiliating  still." ^ 

*  "  La  Verite  dans  sans  jour."         2  u  ^^  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


214  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

The  testimony  of  a  trustworthy  eye-witness  shows  us 
that,  notwithstanding  all  her  efforts,  the  luckless  girl 
was  quite  unable  to  disguise  her  feelings  : 

"  She  was  beside  herself  with  fury  and  despair  ;  she 
found  that  she  had  lost,  at  the  same  time,  a  very  amiable 
lover  and  the  most  splendid  crown  in  the  world.  A 
temperament  less  passionate  than  hers  would  have  safe- 
guarded her  from  giving  way  to  her  feelings  under  such 
circumstances.  As  it  was,  she  abandoned  herself  to 
rage  and  anger."  ^ 

One  day,  she  sought  out  her  uncle  and  demanded  if 
he  were  acquainted  with  the  reason  of  Louis's  treatment 
of  her.  The  Cardinal,  chuckling  over  the  success 
which  was  attending  his  Machiavellian  scheme,  assured 
her  that  the  King's  attitude  was  but  assumed,  in  order 
to  deceive  the  young  Queen  and  the  public  ;  that  his 
regard  for  her  was  still  as  warm  as  ever,  and  that,  once 
she  was  married,  all  would  be  changed.  He  added  that, 
since  all  eyes  were  fixed  upon  her  and  the  King,  and 
every  word  which  passed  between  them  was  faithfully 
reported  to  Maria  Theresa,  he  must  beg  her  to  give 
him  a  solemn  promise  that  she  would  not  attempt  to 
demand  any  explanation  of  his  Majesty. 

Marie  was  very  far  from  being  satisfied  with  the 
Cardinal's  assurances.  But  the  promise  was  given  and 
faithfully  observed,  though  it  must  have  been  a  cruelly 
hard  task,  for  Louis  now  began  to  push  his  resentment 
so  far  as  to  vaunt  in  her  presence  the  perfections  of  the 
Queen.  "  It  is  the  fault  of  our  sex,"  she  says  in  her 
"  Memoires,"  "  to  be  unable  to  endure  to  hear  others 
praised,  even  though  they  may  deserve  it.  But,  if  the 
praise  be  bestowed  by  one  whom  we  love  on  a  person 

^  Madame  de  la  Fayette,  "  Histoire  de  Madame  Henrietta  d'Angle- 
terre." 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  215 

who  robs  us  of  his  affection,  nothing  is  more  painful, 
nothing  more  cruel.  The  King  often  made  me  ex- 
perience this.  .  .  .  And  the  orders  that  my  uncle  had 
given  me  never  to  demand  an  explanation  of  this 
matter  prevented  me  from  condemning  him  unheard. 
However,  the  emotions  of  my  heart  carried  me  away 
and  obliged  me  to  reveal  my  feelings  two  or  three  times 
to  his  Majesty,  who  received  my  complaints  so  ill  that 
I  resolved  to  say  nothing  further  to  him  about  it." 

Then  she  goes  on  to  tell  us  that,  "  finding  that  her 
disease  required  a  remedy,"  she  proceeded  to  put  into 
practice  "  a  part  of  what  Ovid  advises  in  order  to  con- 
quer love,"  which,  however,  seems  to  have  been  no 
more  efficacious  than  the  precepts  of  Seneca  which  she 
had  studied  at  Brouage  ;  that  she  removed  from  her 
sight  every  object  that  was  capable  of  keeping  her 
passion  alive,  and,  "  seeking  a  specious  pretext  to  banish 
it  from  her  heart,  begged  her  sister  Hortense  to  tell  her 
all  the  evil  she  could  of  the  King."^ 

Notwithstanding  the  bitter  mortification  which  the 
conduct  of  Louis  XIV  was  occasioning  her,  Marie  was 
still  desirous  of  marrying  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine, 
for  whom,  if  she  had  no  love,  she  had  certainly  con- 
ceived a  very  warm  friendship  and  esteem.  But  the 
moment   she   ventured   to   broach    the    subject    to    the 

^  Hortense,  in  her  "  Memoires,"  confirms  this  :  "  On  the  return  from 
the  frontier,  we  were  sent  for  to  Fontainebleau,  where  the  Court  was. 
The  King  treated  my  sister  somewhat  coldly,  and  this  change  began  to 
make  her  resolve  to  marry  into  Italy.  She  would  often  pray  me  to  tell 
her  as  many  ill  things  of  the  King  as  I  could.  But,  apart  from  the  fact 
that  it  was  rather  difficult  to  speak  ill  of  such  a  prince  as  he,  who  lived 
among  us  with  a  charming  sweetness  and  familiarity,  my  age,  which  was 
then  only  twelve,  did  not  permit  me  to  quite  understand  what  was  required 
of  me,  and  all  that  I  could  do  to  help  her,  stricken  with  grief  and  loving 
her  tenderly,  was  to  weep  for  her  misfortunes  with  her,  until  she  might  bear 
me  company  in  weeping  for  mine." 


2i6  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Cardinal,  his  Eminence  raised  every  conceivable  objec- 
tion. The  prince,  he  pointed  out,  was  only  the  heir-pre- 
sumptive of  his  uncle,  who,  being  always  ready  to 
marry  all  kinds  of  women,  would  be  sure  to  take  unto 
himself  another  wife  ere  long,  and  very  probably  have 
a  son,  in  which  event  the  alliance  would  be  quite  un- 
worthy of  the  niece  of  Cardinal  Mazarin  1  How  much 
better  would  it  be  for  her  to  accept  the  proposals  of  the 
Constable  Colonna,  one  of  the  greatest  noblemen  of 
Italy,  who,  from  all  accounts,  was,  personally,  quite  as 
desirable  a  husband  as  Prince  Charles,  and  whose  future, 
moreover,  was  not  dependent  on  the  caprices  of  any 
relative  1 

Marie  flew  into  a  violent  passion,  declared  that 
nothing  should  induce  her  to  wed  the  Constable,  and 
accused  her  uncle  of  wishing  to  break  the  promises  he 
had  made  her  a  score  of  times  not  to  send  her  away 
from  France  or  force  her  into  any  marriage  contrary  to 
her  inclination.  The  Cardinal  shrugged  his  shoulders, 
declared  that  his  beloved  niece  was  under  an  entire  mis- 
apprehension, that  he  had  not  the  slightest  intention  of 
forcing  any  alliance  upon  her  ;  but  that  he  felt  it  to  be 
his  duty  to  represent  to  her  the  inconveniences  and 
advantages  of  those  which  happened  to  present  them- 
selves at  that  moment.  Then  he  left  her,  with  an 
assurance  that  there  was  no  need  for  haste,  and  that  she 
could  take  as  long  as  she  pleased  to  consider  the 
matter. 

Mazarin,  having  sown  the  seed,  could  afford  to  wait 
for  the  harvest,  which,  he  felt  sure,  could  not  be  long 
delayed,  since  the  moment  was  now  approaching  when 
the  unhappy  Marie  would  be  called  upon  to  face  an 
even  more  trying  ordeal  than  that  which  she  had  had  to 
encounter  at  Fontainebleau. 


CHAPTER    XI 

Marie  Mancini  witnesses  the  entry  of  the  Queen  into  Paris — Description 
of  this  pageant — Despair  of  Marie — She  consents  to  marry  the  Con- 
stable Colonna — Visit  of  the  Marchese  d'Angelelii  to  Paris — Fete  at 
the  Palais-Mazarin — Illness  of  the  Cardinal — His  treatment  of  Anne 
of  Austria — His  last  counsels  to  Louis  XIV — His  anxiety  to  see 
Marie  wedded  to  the  Constable — Hortense  and  her  suitors — Marriage 
of  Hortense  to  the  Marquis  de  la  Meilleraye — Death  of  Mazarin — 
"  God  be  thanked  ;  he  has  gone  !  " — His  fortune — His  will — Ex- 
planation between  Marie  and  Louis  XIV — The  King  implores  Marie 
to  break  with  the  Constable  Colonna — She  refuses — Her  marriage  by 
procuration — Her  departure  for  Italy — A  disastrous  journey — The 
Archbishop  of  Amasia — Meeting  between  Marie  and  the  Constable 
at  Milan — Letter  of  Louis  XIV  to  Madame  de  Venel — Dangerous 
illness  of  Marie  atLoretto — Herarrival  in  Rome — Letterof  Louis  XIV 
to  the  Constable  Colonna. 

/^N  26  August,  the  King  and  Queen  made  their 
^^^  famous  entry  into  Paris  by  way  of  the  Porte 
Saint  -  Antoine,  and  Marie  Mancini,  by  her  uncle's 
orders,  was  compelled  to  accompany  his  Eminence — 
who  was  too  unwell  to  take  part  in  the  procession — and 
her  sisters  to  the  hotel  of  Madame  de  Beauvais,  first 
femme  de  chamhre  to  Anne  of  Austria,  who  had  invited 
the  Queen-Mother,  the  widowed  Queen  of  England 
and  her  daughter,  the  ill-fated  Henrietta,  the  Princesse 
Palatine,  the  Duchesses  de  Noailles  and  de  Chevreuse, 
and  other  ladies  of  the  Court,  to  witness  the  spectacle. 
At  one  of  the  upper  windows  sat  Madame  Scarron,  the 
future  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who,  though  very  much 
esteemed  in  fashionable  society  for  her  wit  and  beauty, 

217 


21 8  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

was  not  yet  a  member  of  the  Court.  "  Madame  de 
Beauvais,  the  King's  first  adventure  ;  Marie  de  Mancini, 
his  first  love,  and  Madame  Scarron,  who  was  to  be  his 
last,  met  together  to  witness  the  entry  of  Maria  Theresa. 
Do  they  not  make  a  piquant  picture  ? "  ^ 

The  pageant  was  worthy  of  the  occasion.  In  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Antoine,  a  superb  throne  had  been 
erected,  supported  by  four  columns  and  crowned  with 
a  dome.  Twenty  steps  led  up  to  the  pavilion,  which 
was  open  on  three  sides.  It  was  hung  with  rich 
tapestries,  and,  seated  under  a  da'is,  the  King  and  Queen 
received  the  homage  of  their  faithful  subjects.  All  the 
corporate  bodies,  lay  and  clerical,  presented  their  duty 
and  swore  allegiance  to  their  sovereign." 

This  ceremony  concluded,  the  cortege  started  for  the 
Louvre.  The  King,  wishing  to  leave  all  the  honours 
of  the  entry  to  the  Queen,  did  not  ride  with  her  in  the 
triumphal  car,  but  rode  some  distance  in  front,  pre- 
ceded by  a  glittering  procession  of  troops,  noblemen 
and  gentlemen,  and  the  retainers  of  various  great  person- 
ages. 

Nothing  in  this  procession  attracted  more  attention 
than  Mazarin's  Household,  which,  in  the  enforced 
absence  of  his  Eminence,  was  marshalled  under  the 
direction  of  his  intendant  Colbert.  "  It  was  headed  by 
seventy-two  baggage-mules  :  the  first  twenty-four  with 
trappings  simple  enough  ;  the  next  twenty-four  with 
trappings  finer,  richer,  and  more  splendid  than  the 
handsomest  tapestries  that  you  ever  saw,  and  silver 
bits  and  bells  ;  in  short,  a  magnificent  sight,  which 
evoked  general  admiration.  Afterwards  twenty-four 
pages    went    by,    followed    by    all    the    gentlemen    and 

^   Lucien  Percy,  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 
2  Bingham's  "Marriages  of  the  Bourbons." 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  219 

officers  of  his  household,  a  very  large  number.  Next 
came  twelve  carriages,  each  drawn  by  six  horses,  and  then 
his  Guards.  His  Household  took  an  hour  to  pass  by. 
Afterwards  came  that  of  Monsieur.  I  forgot,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  Cardinal's,  to  mention  twenty-four  horses 
splendidly  caparisoned,  and  themselves  so  beautiful  that 
I  could  not  take  my  eyes  off  them.  Monsieur's  House- 
hold appeared  after  this  very  mean.  Then  came  the 
King's,  truly  royal,  for  nothing  in  the  world  could  have 
been  more  splendid.  You  know  better  than  myself  of 
what  it  is  composed,  but  you  cannot  imagine  the  beauty 
of  the  horses  on  which  the  pages  of  the  royal  stables 
rode  ;  they  came  prancing  along,  and  were  handled  most 
dexterously.  Then  came  the  Musketeers,  distinguished 
by  their  different  plumes  ;  the  first  brigade  wore  white  ; 
the  second,  yellow,  black,  and  white  ;  the  third,  blue 
and  white  ;  and  the  fourth,  green  and  white.  After 
this,  came  pages-in-waiting,  with  flame-coloured  sur- 
touts  covered  all  over  with  gold.  Then  M.  de  Navailles, 
at  the  head  of  the  light  cavalry — all  this  magnificent  ; 
next  Vardes,^  at  the  head  of  the  Hundred  Swiss  ;  he 
wore  a  uniform  of  green  and  gold,  which  became  him 
very  well. 

"  Then  .  .  .  No,  I  think  the  gentlemen  of  quality 
followed  the  light  cavalry  ;  there  were  a  great  many  of 
them — all  so  magnificent  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
select  any  one  in  particular.  .  .  .  The  Comte  de  Guiche^ 
rode  all  alone,  covered  with  embroidery  and  precious 

^  Francois  Renedu  Bec-Crespin,  Marquis  de  Vardes,  son  of  Henri  IV's 
mistress,  the  Comtesse  de  Moret,  by  her  second  marriage  with  the  Marquis 
de  Vardes.  He  was  a  consummate  courtier,  and  likewise  a  consummate 
scoundrel.     See  p.  245  et  scq.  infra. 

2  Armand  de  Gramont,  younger  son  of  Antoine  II,  Due  de  Gramont, 
and  nephew  of  Philibert  de  Gramont,  the  hero  of  Count  Hamilton's 
"  Memuires.'' 


220  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

stones,  which  sparkled  delightfully  in  the  sun.  He 
was  surrounded  by  servants  in  rich  liveries,  and  followed 
by  some  officers  of  the  Guards."^ 

The  Marechaux  de  France  preceded  the  King,  before 
whom  they  bore  a  brocaded  canopy.  "The  King  was 
attired  in  a  suit  of  silver  brocade  covered  with  pearls 
and  adorned  with  a  marvellous  number  of  carnation- 
coloured  and  silver  ribbons,  with  a  superb  plume  of 
carnation  -  coloured  and  white  feathers  clasped  by  a 
cluster  of  diamonds  ;  his  belt  and  sword  were  of  the 
richest  workmanship.  He  was  mounted  on  a  splendid 
Spanish  horse,  a  dark  bay,  with  its  trappings  of  silver 
brocade  and  its  harness  sewn  with  precious  stones. 

"  The  Queen's  pages-in-waiting,  in  superb  liveries, 
followed.  Then  came  the  caVeche  of  her  Majesty, 
which  might  be  more  fittingly  described  as  a  triumphal 
car.  It  was  covered,  inside  and  out,  with  gold-wire 
embroidery,  an  entirely  new  invention,  on  a  silver 
ground,  the  outside,  both  front  and  back,  adorned  with 
festoons  in  relief,  all  embroidered  with  gold  and  silver 
wire.  The  canopy  likewise  was  embroidered,  both 
inside  and  out,  with  the  same  kind  of  embroidery,  and 
was  supported  by  two  columns  encircled  with  jasmine 
and  olive  blossoms,  symbolical  of  Love  and  Peace.  All 
that  part  of  the  caleche  which  is  usually  made  of  iron 
was  of  silver-gilt,  and  even  the  wheels  were  gilded. 

"  This  marvellous  car  was  drawn  by  six  pearl-coloured 
Danish  horses,  whose  manes  and  tails  reached  to  the 
ground,  caparisoned  and  covered  with  trappings  of  the 
same  embroidery,  and  all  of  them  of  such  rare  beauty 
that  no  painter  could  possibly  hope  to  do  them  justice, 

1  Letter  of  Madame  de  Maintenon  to  Madame  de  Villarceaux,  27 
August  1 660,  "  Correspondance  Generale  de  Madame  de  Maintenon," 
1.  71. 


I'r  Jin  an  engraving  after  the  painting  by  Beaubrun 


MARIA   THERESA   OF   AUSTRIA,   QUEEN    OF   FHANCE 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  221 

and  all  that  one  can  say  is  that  they  were  chefs-cTceuvre 
of  Nature,  made  expressly  to  take  part  in  this  pageant. 

**The  princess  [the  Queen]  was  attired  in  a  robe  on 
which  gold,  pearls,  and  precious  stones  made  up  a 
brilliant  and  imposing  combination,  while  her  coiffure 
was  resplendent  with  the  Crown  jewels,  which,  how- 
ever, lent  far  less  eclat  to  her  appearance  than  her  own 
charms."^     . 

"  One  can  easily  picture,"  remarks  Lucien  Perey, 
"  what  Marie  suffered  during  that  day,  and  the  bitter 
thoughts  that  the  triumph  of  the  Queen  aroused  in  her 
mind.  How  many  times  had  she  dreamed,  intoxicated 
by  the  promises  and  the  passion  of  the  King,  of  thus 
entering  the  Louvre,  Queen  and  triumphant !  And,  to 
crown  her  punishment,  she  was  forced  to  assist  at  the 
spectacle  of  that  joyous  and  enthusiastic  crowd,  and  to 
listen  to  the  acclamations  which  greeted  the  woman  who 
had  replaced  her.  Yet,  if  she  had  been  alone,  and  had 
been  able  to  give  way  to  her  grief!  But  she  had  to 
submit  to  this  torture  before  Anne  of  Austria,  before 
her  uncle,  to  whom  she  was  indebted  for  it,  and  before 
the  ladies  of  the  Court,  some  of  whom  betrayed  their 
sympathy  by  glances  of  compassion."^ 

Resolved  at  all  costs  to  disguise  her  feelings,  the 
unhappy  girl,  summoning  to  her  aid  all  her  strength  of 
character,  succeeded  in  enduring  to  the  end  this  terrible 
ordeal,  without  betraying  by  word  or  look  the  anguish 
which  consumed  her.  No  sooner,  however,  had  she 
regained  the  Palais-Mazarin  and  her  own  room,  than 
her  strength  gave  way  and  she  fainted.  Madame  de 
Venel,  who  had  doubtless  anticipated  some  such  denoue- 
ment^ was  quickly  at  hand  with  restoratives ;  but  scarcely 

^   Gazette  de  France,  3  September  1660. 
2  "  Le  Roman  du  Grand  Roi." 


222  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

had  her  charge  recovered  consciousness  and  perceived 
the  gouvernante^  than  she  entreated  her  to  leave  her, 
"  since  she  could  not  endure  the  sight  of  her." 

Madame  de  Venel,  not  altogether  displeased,  we  may 
presume,  with  such  a  tribute  to  the  efficiency  with 
which  she  had  discharged  the  duties  of  her  post,  hurried 
off  to  acquaint  the  Cardinal  with  his  niece's  condition. 
Mazarin,  however,  knew  when  to  let  well  alone  ;  and, 
perceiving  that  any  interference  from  him  at  this  junc- 
ture was  more  likely  to  delay  than  to  hasten  the  end 
which  he  had  in  view,  left  the  girl  to  her  grief.  His 
policy  was  justified,  for,  the  following  morning,  Marie 
requested  an  interview  with  her  uncle,  informed  him 
that  she  was  willing  to  accept  the  Constable  Colonna  as 
her  husband,  and  begged  that  he  would  at  once  announce 
her  approaching  marriage  to  the  Court. 

Transported  with  joy  at  the  success  of  his  scheme, 
Mazarin  hastened  to  write  to  the  Marchese  d'Angelelli, 
a  friend  and  confidant  of  the  Constable,  who  had  been 
the  intermediary  between  him  and  the  Cardinal,  to 
inform  him  of  his  niece's  decision.  The  marquis,  who 
was  at  Brussels,  at  once  set  out  for  Paris,  where,  quickly 
perceiving  the  true  cause  of  Marie's  resolution,  he 
neglected  nothing  to  diminish  the  aversion  which  she 
had  for  the  match,  painting  the  Constable  in  the  most 
advantageous  colours,  and  expatiating  on  the  delights 
of  Rome  and  the  splendid  position  which  would  be  hers 
as  the  wife  of  so  great  a  personage. 

He  might  have  spared  himself  the  trouble  ;  the  girl 
had  not  the  smallest  intention  of  changing  her  mind, 
since,  in  the  interval,  she  had  been  subjected  to  a  fresh 
ordeal.  A  fortnight  after  the  entry  of  the  King  and 
Queen  into  Paris,  the  Cardinal  had  given  a  grand  fete 
to  their  Majesties  at  the  Palais-Mazarin,   one  of  the 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  223 

features  of  which  had  been  a  supper  served  with  a 
magnificence  which  had  never  been  seen  before.  And 
at  this  supper  Marie,  who,  as  the  eldest  of  his  Eminence's 
unm.arried  nieces,  was  called  upon  to  do  the  honours  to 
the  queens,  had  had  the  unspeakable  humiliation,  as  it 
seemed  to  her,  of  waiting  upon  her  triumphant  rival 
with  her  own  hands.  That  evening  put  the  comhle  upon 
her  punishm,ent.  Henceforth,  she  had  but  one  desire  : 
to  shake  the  dust  of  Paris  off  her  feet  as  speedily  as 
possible. 

Ever  since  his  return  from  the  Pyrenees,  Mazarin's 
health,  which  had  been  infirm  for  some  time  past,  had 
been  steadily  failing.  His  constitution  was  naturally 
good,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  enormous 
amount  of  work  which  he  voluntarily  imposed  upon 
himself  had  gone  far  to  impair  it,  and  the  three  months 
he  had  spent  on  the  marshy  banks  of  the  Bidassoa,  in 
the  midst  of  incessant  labours  and  anxieties  of  all  kinds, 
had  hastened  the  progress  of  his  malady.  Early  in 
1 66 1,  his  condition  grew  rapidly  worse,  and  his  phy- 
sicians felt  it  their  duty  to  warn  him  that  his  end  was 
near. 

Anne  of  Austria  was  in  despair;  while  the  King,  who 
entertained  a  genuine  affection  for  the  Minister  who 
had  stood  to  him  in  place  of  a  father,  and  who,  what- 
ever his  faults  may  have  been,  had  never  spared  himself 
in  his  sovereign's  service,  was  scarcely  less  affected. 
Both  their  Majesties  established  themselves  at  Vin- 
cennes,  where  the  Cardinal  lay  ill,  and  it  was  rarely 
that  a  day  passed  on  which  the  Queen-Mother  did  not 
come  to  sit  by  the  dying  man's  bedside  and  lavish 
upon  him  the  most  tender  care.  But  Mazarin  showed 
no  gratitude  ;  for  eighteen  years  he  had  been  acting  a 


224  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

part,  and  now,  in  the  very  presence  of  death,  he  prob- 
ably felt  that  it  was  time  to  have  done  with  it.  "  He 
treated  her  as  if  she  were  a  chambermaid,"  says  Mont- 
glat  ;  "and  when  they  came  to  tell  him  that  she  was 
mounting  the  stairs  to  his  room,  he  frowned,  and 
said  before  his  valets  :  *  Ah  !  that  woman  will  be  the 
death  of  me  ;  she  worries  me  so.  Will  she  never 
leave  me  in  peace  ?  "  ^ 

His  conduct  towards  Louis  XIV  was  very  different, 
and  proves  that  the  almost  extravagant  professions  of 
loyalty  and  devotion  which  his  letters  to  his  sovereign 
contain  must  have  been  dictated  by  genuine  feeling. 
He  now  gave  him  at  great  length  his  last  counsels, 
urging  him  strongly  to  take  upon  himself  the  chief 
direction  of  affairs,  to  limit  the  Parliament  of  Paris  to 
its  judicial  functions,  and  to  reduce  taxation,  so  far  as 
the  necessary  expenses  of  the  Government  would  per- 
mit. He  also  advised  him  to  avail  himself  of  Colbert's 
services  in  the  finances,  and  to  keep  a  careful  control  over 
the  operations  of  Fouquet.  And  all  his  directions,  save 
those  relating  to  the  two  persons  just  mentioned,  were 
carefully  committed  to  writing  by  order  of  the  King.^ 

Two  private  matters  greatly  exercised  the  Cardinal's 
mind  during  his  last  hours  :  one  was  the  future  of 
Marie,  the  other  that  of  her  sister  Hortense. 

Mazarin  was  feverishly  anxious  to  get  the  former  safely 
wedded  to  the  Constable  Colonna,  for  until  that  was  ac- 
complished, he  was  in  constant  dread  lest  some  chance 
might  reveal  to  Louis  the  true  state  of  the  girl's  feelings 
towards  him,  and  bring  about  a  revival  of  his  passion. 
However,  many  vexatious  delays  occurred,  and  the  Car- 
dinal did  not  live  to  see  his  wish  gratified. 

1  "Memoires  de  Montglat." 

2  Mr.  J.  B.  Perkins's  "  France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  225 

Hortense's  establishment  in  life  occasioned  him 
scarcely  less  anxiety.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the 
young  girl  was  gifted  with  quite  extraordinary  beauty, 
and  that  it  had  long  been  an  open  secret  that  her  uncle 
intended  to  bequeath  her  the  bulk  of  his  vast  wealth,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  her  suitors  should  have  been  well- 
nigh  as  numerous  as  those  of  Penelope.  The  Cardinal, 
however,  was  hard  to  please,  and  the  majority  of  them 
were  very  quickly  sent  about  their  business.  Among 
those,  however,  whose  pretensions  received  more  con- 
sideration at  his  hands,  excluding  Charles  Emmanuel  of 
Savoy,  of  whom  mention  has  been  made  elsewhere, 
were  two  future  sovereigns,  Pedro  II  of  Portugal  and 
Charles  II  of  England. 

Why  Mazarin  refused  the  overtures  of  Pedro,  then 
Regent  of  his  future  kingdom,  does  not  appear  to  be 
known  ;  but  it  is  not  improbable  that,  since  Portugal 
was  at  war  with  Spain,  he  feared  that  the  marriage  of 
his  niece  to  its  ruler  might  be  resented  by  the  latter 
country,  and  interfere  with  the  progress  of  the  negotia- 
tions for  peace. 

However  that  may  be,  political  considerations  were 
certainly  responsible  for  his  rejection  of  Charles  II's 
suit.  During  the  Conferences  at  the  lie  des  Faisans, 
Charles  journeyed  thither  in  the  hope  of  inducing 
France  and  Spain  to  assist  him  in  an  attempt  to  recover 
his  kingdom,  and,  with  the  idea  of  binding  Mazarin  to 
his  cause  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  replenishing  his 
empty  purse,  asked  for  Hortense's  hand.  But  the 
Cardinal  was  resolved  not  to  break  with  the  existing 
Government  in  England,  so  long  as  there  was  a  pos- 
sibility of  renewed  war  with  Spain  ;  and,  besides,  in 
common  with  nearly  all  Continental  statesmen,  con- 
sidered Charles's  chance  of  recovering  the  throne  which 
ft 


226  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

his  father  had  forfeited  a  very  remote  one,  even  with 
foreign  aid.  And  so  he  gracefully  declined  the  honour 
by  insisting  that,  "  so  long  as  a  cousin  of  his  Majesty's 
(i.e.  Mile,  de  Montpensier)  remained  unmarried,  he 
must  not  think  of  a  simple  demoiselle."^ 

Could  Mazarin  have  foreseen  that,  in  a  few  months 
from  that  date,  without  a  single  European  sovereign 
stirring  a  finger  to  help  him,  the  King  would  come  to 
his  own  again,  his  answer  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  a 
very  different  one  ;  and,  indeed,  scarcely  was  Charles 
seated  on  the  throne  than  the  Cardinal,  judging  him  to 
be  still  in  need  of  money,  sent  Bartet  to  London  to 
offer  him  Hortense  and  five  million  livres  with  her. 
Henrietta  Maria,  who  had  just  concluded  the  marriage 
of  her  daughter  with  Monsieur,  showed  herself  very 
favourable  to  the  Cardinal's  project,  and  urged  her  son 
to  accept  the  lady  and  the  dowry.  But  Charles's  posi- 
tion was  growing  stronger  daily  ;  the  signs  of  hostility 
which  had  at  first  manifested  themselves  in  the  Parlia- 
ment and  the  army  had  almost  entirely  disappeared  ; 
while  his  counsellors  were,  of  course,  as  strongly  op- 
posed to  the  match  as  had  been  Mazarin  to  an  alliance 
between  his  own  sovereign  and  Marie  Mancini.  And 
so,  to  the  intense  mortification  of  the  Cardinal,  the 
King,  not,  we  may  suppose,  without  a  biting  jest  or  two 

1  Mr.  Osmund  Airy,  "  Charles  II."  Mile,  de  Montpensier,  in  her 
"Memoires,"  says  that  the  day  after  the  Cardinal  arrived  at  Saint-Jean-de- 
Luz,  having  signed  the  peace,  he  came  to  pay  her  a  visit,  and  said  : 
"  The  King  of  England  has  proposed  to  marry  my  niece  Hortense.  I 
replied  that  he  did  me  too  much  honour,  but,  so  long  as  there  were  first 
cousins  of  the  King  to  marry  "  (meaning  Mile,  de  Montpensier),  "  I  must 
decline."  Mademoiselle  adds  that  she  thanked  him,  and  strongly  urged 
him  to  give  Hortense  to  the  King.  ..."  I  learned  that  on  the  death  of 
Cromwell,  the  Queen  of  England  (Henrietta  Maria)  had  made  the  same 
proposal  to  the  Cardinal,  who  had  rejected  it.  The  last  time  it  was 
M.  de  Turenne  who  made  it.  He  took  a  great  interest  in  that  which 
concerned  the  King  of  England." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  227 

about  the  irony  of  Fate,  declined  what  he  had  once 
solicited  so  humbly. 

When  Mazarin  found  that  his  days  were  numbered, 
he  resolved  to  have  done  with  kings  and  princes,  and  to 
give  Hortense  and  her  wealth  to  some  French  nobleman 
who  would  assume  and  perpetuate  his  name.  He 
thought  of  Turenne  ;  but  Turenne  had  an  illustrious 
name,  which  he  was  disinclined  to  abandon,  and  fifty 
years,  which  the  young  Hortense  was  even  more  dis- 
inclined to  accept.  Then  there  was  some  talk  of  the 
Prince  de  Courtenay,  a  descendant  of  the  youngest  son  of 
Louis  le  Gros,  who  could  boast  of  the  longest  pedigree 
and  the  shortest  purse  of  any  nobleman  in  France.  But, 
notwithstanding  his  illustrious  lineage,  the  Cardinal  soon 
decided  that  a  young  man  "  who  had  literally  nothing 
but  his  cloak  and  his  sword  "  was  no  fit  match  for  the 
richest  heiress  in  Europe.  Finally,  he  determined  to 
consult  the  Bishop  of  Frejus,  who  had  been  for  many 
years  the  confidant  of  his  secret  missions  and  family 
difficulties,  and,  indeed,  very  much  to  him  what  Pere 
Joseph  had  been  to  his  great  predecessor. 

Now,  the  Marquis  de  la  Meilleraye,  Grand  Master  of 
the  Artillery,  whose  suit  the  Cardinal  had  so  con- 
temptuously rejected  four  years  before,  had  stoutly 
declined  to  abandon  hope,  and  had  continued  to  pay 
Hortense  the  most  assiduous  court.  During  the  exile  of 
the  three  sisters  at  La  Rochelle  and  Brouage,  he  had 
despatched  couriers  to  the  object  of  his  adoration  with 
almost  as  much  regularity  as  had  the  King  to  Marie, 
thereby  occasioning  poor  Madame  de  Venel  much  em- 
barrassment ;  and,  knowing  the  confidence  that  Mazarin 
reposed  in  the  counsels  of  the  Bishop  of  Frejus  and  the 
venal  character  of  that  prelate,  he  had  engaged  him  to 
plead   his   cause   with   the   Cardinal,   promising    him   a 


228  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

reward  of  fifty  thousand  ecus,  in  the  event  of  his  efforts 
being  crowned  with  success. 

At  first  his  Eminence  would  listen  to  nothing  in 
La  Meilleraye's  favour — had  he  not  declared  that  he 
would  rather  give  Hortense  to  a  lackey  ? — but  now,  on 
his  death-bed,  he  relented,  and,  on  28  February  1661, 
the  marriage-contract  of  Hortense  de  Mancini  and 
Armand  Charles  de  la  Porte,  Marquis  de  la  Meilleraye, 
Grand  Master  of  the  Artillery,  was  signed  by  their 
Majesties,  at  Vincennes,  in  the  Cardinal's  sick-room.^ 
Then,  at  his  Eminence's  request,  the  King  created  La 
Meilleraye  a  duke,  by  the  title  of  Due  de  Mazarin." 

"  So  soon  as  the  marriage  was  concluded,"  writes 
Hortense,  "  he  [the  Grand  Master]  sent  me  a  great 
cabinet,  wherein,  among  other  rich  gifts,  there  were  ten 
thousand  pistoles  in  gold.  I  gave  a  great  part  of  them 
to  my  brother  and  sisters,  to  console  them  for  my 
opulence,  which  they  could  not  see  without  envy^  how- 
ever much  they  endeavoured  to  conceal  it.  I  never  put 
them  to  the  trouble  of  asking  me,  for  the  key  always 
remained  in  the  same  place  in  which  it  was  when  they 
brought  it,  and  they  took  all  they  wanted.  One  day, 
for  want  of  some  better  amusement,  we  threw  more  than 
three  hundred  louis  out  of  the  window  of  the  Palais- 

1  But  the  Bishop  of  Frejus  never  got  his  fifty  thousand  ecus.  Hortense 
writes :  "  The  bishop,  won  over  previously  by  the  Due  de  Mazarin,  upon 
promise  of  fifty  thousand  ecus,  neglected  nothing  to  deserve  them.  But  he 
never  received  them,  for  he  returned  the  bond^  which  was  given  him,  in- 
timating that  he  would  prefer  the  bishopric  of  Evreux  if  he  could  obtain  it. 
But  the  King,  having  disposed  of  it  to  another,  notwithstanding  M.  de 
Mazarin  importuning  him  for  the  space  of  two  months,  M.  de  Frejus 
claimed  the  fifty  thousand  ecus,  which,  however,  M.  de  Mazarin  was 
no  longer  willing  to  pay." 

2  Mr.  J.  B.  Perkins,  in  his  "  France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin," 
states  that  the  Cardinal  bequeathed  \}s\\^  title  to  La  Meilleraye;  but  this  is 
incorrect.  The  Cardinal  was  never  Due  de  Mazarin.  He  was,  however, 
Due  de  Nivernois  et  Donziois,  which  duchy  went  to  Philippe  Mancini. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  229 

Mazarin,  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  crowd  of  ser- 
vants which  was  in  the  court  scramble  and  fight  for 
them.  This  prodigality,  reaching  the  Cardinal's  ears, 
caused  him  so  much  displeasure  that  it  is  believed  to 
have  hastened  his  end."^ 

Mazarin,  in  fact,  died  ten  days  after  Hortense's  mar- 
riage, on  Wednesday,  10  March  1661,  "meeting  death 
with  a  good  countenance,"  according  to  the  expression  of 
Madame  de  Motteville.  On  the  previous  Sunday,  feel- 
ing his  end  approaching,  he  sent  for  M.  Joly,  at  that 
time  cure  of  Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs  and  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Agen,  to  whom  he  confessed,  remarking  :  "I 
am  not  satisfied  ;  I  much  desire  to  feel  a  greater  grief 
for  my  sins.  I  am  a  great  criminal,  and  I  have  no  hope, 
save  in  the  mercy  of  God."  The  following  day  he 
received  Extreme  Unction,  "  avec  de  grands  temoignages  de 
ptete. 

On  the  Tuesday,  he  requested  that  Mass  should  be 
said  in  his  room,  adding  that  he  had  perhaps  never 
heard  Mass  once  in  his  life  in  the  spirit  in  which  the 
Church  intended  him  to  hear  it.  M.  Joly  then  asked 
him  whether  it  were  not  his  wish  to  make  some  public 
amends  for  the  bad  examples  he  had  given  and  the 
scandals  he  had  been  guilty  of  during  his  life  ;  to  which 
he  replied,  "  Most  willingly,"  and  "  taking  a  holy 
candle  in  his  hand,  with  bare  head  and  according  to  the 
formula  of  amende  honorable  and  public  reparation,  he 
asked  pardon  of  God  for  all  his  sins,  and  begged  those 
whom  he  had  offended  to  pardon  him."  Soon  after- 
wards, he  was  seized  with  a  violent  spasm  of  pain,  and 
was  heard  to  mutter  :  "  Courage  !  It  is  necessary  to 
suffer."  About  two  hours  after  midnight,  M.  Joly 
made  him  kiss  the  crucifix,  and  without  any  other  out- 

1  "Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


230  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

ward    sign,   save    a    slight    opening    of  the    mouth,   he 
expired. 

Marie,  Hortense,  and  Philippe  Mancini  were  in  an 
adjoining  room  when  Bernouin,  the  Cardinal's  valet  de 
chamhre^  came  to  inform  them  that  his  master  was  no 
more.  "  My  brother  and  sister,"  writes  Hortense, 
"  looked  at  one  another,  and,  for  all  regret,  observed  : 
*God  be  thanked  ;  he  has  gone  1'  And,  to  tell  the  truth,  I 
was  scarcely  more  grieved.  It  is  a  remarkable  thing  that 
a  man  of  that  merit,  after  having  laboured  all  his  life  to 
elevate  and  enrich  his  family,  should  have  received  from 
it,  after  his  death,  nothing  but  marks  of  aversion.  But, 
if  you  knew  with  what  severity  he  treated  us  in  all 
things,  you  would  be  less  surprised  at  it.  Never  had 
man  manners  so  courteous  in  public  and  so  harsh  in  his 
own  house.  All  our  tastes  and  inclinations  were  con- 
trary to  his,  and  to  that  must  be  added  the  incredible 
subjection  in  which  we  were  kept."^ 

The  Cardinal  on  his  death-bed  offered  to  leave  his 
fortune  to  the  King,  but  this  offer,  as  he  no  doubt 
expected  it  would  be,  was  declined.  The  amount  of 
that  fortune  has  been  variously  estimated.  Saint-Simon 
places  it  as  high  as  60,000,000  livres,  a  sum  which  in  pur- 
chasing power  would  represent  between  ten  and  twelve 
million  pounds  sterling  to-day ;  but  the  majority  of  con- 
temporary writers,  including  the  Duchesse  de  Mazarin, 
who,  as  her  uncle's  residuary  legatee,  may  be  presumed 
to  have  known  something  about  the  matter,  estimate  it 
at  little  more  than  half  that  amount,  and  even  this 
figure  is  probably  somewhat  exaggerated.  "  The  most 
authentic  figures  as  to  his  fortune,"  says  Mr.  Perkins, 

^   "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  231 

"  are  in  a  statement  prepared  by  Colbert,  in  1658.  They 
show  that  at  that  time  it  was  somewhat  less  than 
8,000,000  livres.  His  income,  including  his  pensions 
and  livings,  was  about  800,000  livres.  This  estimate 
did  not  include  his  art  collections,  his  jewels,  or  the 
offices  and  governments  which  he  held,  and  which  passed 
to  his  heirs.  His  fortune  also  was  largely  increased 
after  1658,  but  it  was  probably  overestimated.  What- 
ever it  was,' it  was  an  enormous  one  to  have  accumulated 
in  the  public  service,  and  is  a  stain  upon  Mazarin's 
memory.  He  might  have  urged,  in  mitigation  of  his 
offence,  that  he  lived  in  an  age  of  almost  universal  public 
corruption,  while  it  was  not  his  greed,  but  his  oppor- 
tunities, which  exceeded  that  of  most  of  his  contem- 
poraries."^ 

The  Cardinal  ratified  the  provisions  he  had  already 
made  for  the  erection  and  endowment  of  the  College  des 
Quatre  Nations,  for  scholars  for  Roussillon,  Artois, 
Alsace,  and  Piedmont,  left  donations  to  various  charities 
and  legacies  to  several  of  his  friends  ;  but  the  bulk  of 
his  wealth  was  bequeathed  to  his  family.  Philippe 
Mancini  had  the  duchy  and  peerage  of  Nivernois  and 
Donziois,^  which  the  Cardinal  had  purchased  from  the 
Duke  of  Mantua,  in  1659,  half  of  the  Palais-Mazarin, 
the  paintings  and  statuary  in  which  represented  a  con- 
siderable fortune,  the  Palazzo  Mazarini  at  the  foot  of 
the  Quirinal,  in  Rome,  and  600,000  livres  in  cash.  By 
his  uncle's  request,  he  quartered  the  arms  of  the 
Cardinal  with  his  own,  and  added  the  name  of  Mazarini 
to  his  patronymic. 

The  Comtesse  de  Soissons  received  only  350,000 
livres  ;  but,  in  1660,  her  uncle  had  purchased  for  her, 

1  "  France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin." 

2  Philippe  Mancini  took  the  title  of  Due  de  Nevers. 


232  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

for  250,000  livres,  the  much-coveted  post  of  Superinten- 
dent of  the  Queen's  Household. 

Marianne  Mancini  received  600,000  livres. 

Marie,  in  spite  of  all  the  Cardinal's  fine  promises, 
was  very  badly  treated  in  comparison  with  her  sisters, 
since  she  received  nothing  but  a  dowry  of  100,000  livres 
a  year,  which  Mazarin  had  promised  her  on  her  mar- 
riage with  the  Constable  Colonna,^  15,000  livres  for  the 
expenses  of  her  journey  to  Italy,  and  jewellery  to  the 
value  of  another  forty  thousand. 

The  most  favoured  of  all  the  Mancini  was,  of  course, 
Hortense,  who,  with  her  husband,  inherited  the  residue 
of  her  uncle's  fortune,  including  the  finer  portion  of 
the  Palais-Mazarin  and  its  contents.' 

Mazarin  had  died  without  seeing  the  marriage  for 
which  he  was  so  feverishly  anxious  celebrated,  and  the 
fear  that  it  would  encounter  some  obstacle  followed 
him  to  the  grave.  Nor  were  his  apprehensions  ground- 
less. A  few  days  after  the  Cardinal's  death,  Marie, 
believing  herself  released  from  the  solemn  promise 
which  she  had  given  her  uncle  not  to  demand  of  the 
King  any  explanation  of  the  change  in  his  manner 
towards  her,  was  unable  to  resist  the  temptation  of 
acquainting  his  Majesty  with  all  that  she  had  suffered 

1  "  The  said  Cardinal,"  runs  the  will,  "  desires  that  she  [Marie]  shall 
be  content  with  the  dowry  that  he  has  promised  her  on  her  marriage  with 
the  Constable  Colonna,  which  is  the  most  illustrious  and  advantageous 
alliance  which  could  be  desired  in  Italy." 

2  The  old  Hotel  Tubeuf,  the  galleries  erected  by  Mansart,  and  the 
dependencies  adjoining  the  Rue  des  Petits-Champs.  This  part  continued 
to  bear  the  name  of  the  Palais-Mazarin.  Philippe  Mancini  had  the 
buildings  newly  erected,  situated  on  the  Rue  de  Richelieu  and  the  Cour 
de  I'Horloge,  with  part  of  the  former  hotel  of  Duret  de  Chevry.  The 
principal  entrance  of  his  hotel,  which  was  given  the  name  of  the  Hotel 
de  Nevers,  was  in  the  Rue  de  Richelieu,  and  is  now  that  of  the  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale. — Amedee  Renee,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  233 

since  his  return  to  Paris  :  the  bitter  mortification  of 
finding  that  the  sacrifice  she  had  made  for  his  sake  had 
earned  her,  instead  of  his  esteem  and  gratitude,  nothing 
but  coldness  and  disdain,  the  torture  she  had  endured 
on  the  day  of  his  entry  into  Paris,  which  was  renewed 
every  time  she  saw  the  Queen,  and  so  forth. 

The  result  may  easily  be  imagined.  As  he  listened 
to  the  girl's  burning  words,  Louis  perceived  that  all 
that  he  had  been  told  about  her  infatuation  for  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine  was  false,  and  that,  in  his  blind 
jealousy,  he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  made  the  dupe 
of  a  clever  conspiracy.  All  his  passion  revived,  and, 
casting  himself  at  her  feet,  he  swore  that  he  adored  her 
still,  and  entreated  her  to  break  with  the  Constable 
Colonna,  promising  to  take  upon  himself  the  whole 
responsibility  for  the  rupture.  But  Marie,  though 
deeply  moved,  was  inflexible.  What  position,  she 
asked,  was  he  able  to  offer  her  .'*  Could  it  be  possible 
that  he  imagined  that  she,  whom  he  had  promised  to 
make  his  wife  and  Queen  of  France,  would  ever  stoop 
to  become  his  mistress  ?  If  the  Constable  Colonna, 
she  declared,  now  that  her  uncle  was  dead,  refused  to 
accept  her  as  his  wife,  it  was  her  intention  to  enter  a 
convent. 

The  King,  however,  whose  passion  her  resistance 
only  served  to  inflame,  refused  to  abandon  hope.  He 
recommenced  to  visit  her  every  evening,  as  had  been  his 
custom  before  her  exile  to  La  Rochelle,  paid  her  the  most 
delicate  attentions,  and  strove  by  every  means  in  his  power 
to  induce  her  to  remain  in  France.  Prince  Charles  of 
Lorraine,  on  his  side,  taking  heart  of  grace  from  the 
fact  that  the  Constable  Colonna  had  not  yet  signed  the 
marriage-contract  which  had  been  sent  to  Rome  for  his 
approval,  and  was  commonly  credited  with  a  desire  to 


234  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

break  off  the  match  now  that  Marie's  fortune  had 
proved  to  be  far  below  what  every  one  had  expected, 
continued  to  press  his  suit,  and  lost  no  opportunity  of 
testifying  his  devotion.  "The  young  Prince  Charles 
of  Lorraine,"  writes  Hortense,  "  loved  my  sister  passion- 
ately, pressed  her  to  marry  him,  and  continued  this 
pursuit,  even  after  the  Cardinal's  death.  The  Queen- 
Mother,  who  by  no  means  wished  her  to  remain  in 
France,  charged  Madame  de  Venel  to  break  off  the 
intrigue  at  any  cost  ;  but  all  her  efforts  would  have 
been  useless,  had  they  not  been  seconded  by  certain 
reasons  unknown  to  any  one.  And,  although  the  King  had 
the  kindness  to  offer  her  [Marie]  the  choice  of  any  one 
else  in  France  for  a  husband,  if  M.  de  Lorraine  did  not 
please  her,  and  showed  himself  sensibly  displeased  at 
her  resolution  to  leave  France,  her  evil  star  drew  her 
into  Italy."  ^ 

These  reasons,  "  unknown  to  any  one,"  must  have 
been  perfectly  well  known  to  Hortense,  who,  however, 
writing  only  some  fifteen  years  after  the  events  we  are 
relating,  was  naturally  reluctant  to  publish  them  to  the 
world.  Marie  was  no  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  or  Jacqueline 
de  Beuil  to  contract  a  marriage  for  the  convenience  of  a 
king  ;  other  women  might  ardently  covet  the  post  of 
royal  favourite,  and  find  in  the  power  and  influence 
attached  to  it  abundant  compensation  for  their  dishonour; 
but  to  her,  who  had  once  believed  that  so  very  different 
a  destiny  awaited  her,  the  position  would  be  intolerable. 
And  she  refused  absolutely  to  break  with  the  Constable 
Colonna. 

At  the  beginning  of  May,  news  arrived  that  the  Con- 
stable had  signed  the  marriage  articles  at  Rome,  and  that 
a  courier  was  on  his  way  with  them  to  Paris.     Louis 

1  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  235 

XIV  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  the  chagrin  which 
Marie's  coming  departure  occasioned  him,  and  meeting 
her  an  evening  or  two  later  in  the  Queen-Mother's 
apartments,  said  :  "  Destiny,  which  is  above  kings,  has 
disposed  of  us  contrary  to  our  inclinations,  Madame  ; 
but  it  will  not  prevent  me  from  seeking  to  give  you 
proofs  of  my  esteem  and  attachment  in  whatever  country 
of  the  world  you  may  be."  And  then,  turning  to 
Madame  de  Venel,  who  was  standing  by,  he  added  : 
"  And  you,  Madame,  I  beg  you  to  be  my  surety,  and  to 
accompany  the  Constabless  as  far  as  Milan,  where  the 
Constable  should  come  to  receive  her,  and  to  write  me 
a  full  account  of  the  incidents  of  the  journey." 

A  few  days  later,  a  courier  arrived  with  the  expected 
articles,  and  the  marriage  was  celebrated  in  the  King's 
chapel  at  the  Louvre,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Amasia,  after- 
wards Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  uncle  of  the  Constable 
Colonna,  for  whom  the  Marchese  d'Angelelli  stood 
proxy.^  The  ceremony  concluded,  Marie  was  treated  as 
a  foreign  princess,  addressed  by  their  Majesties  as  "  my 
cousin,"  and  accorded  the  tabouret"^  in  the  presence  of 
the  Queen. 

The  preparations  for  departure  were  soon  completed, 
and,  accompanied  by  the  Archbishop  of  Amasia,  the 
Marchese    d'Angelelli,    and    Madame    de    Venel,    and 

^  She  had  been  affianced  the  previous  evening  in  the  King's  cabinet,  an 
honour  commonly  reserved  for  Princes  and  Princesses  of  the  Blood. 

^  The  tabouret  was  a  stool,  on  which  Princes  and  Princesses  of  the 
Blood,  foreign  princes  and  princesses,  cardinals,  dukes  and  duchessess — in 
fact,  all  persons  whom  it  was  customary  for  their  Majesties  to  address  as 
*'  cousin,"  had  the  privilege  of  seating  themselves  in  the  presence  of  the 
Queen.  Occasionally,  as  a  special  favour,  it  was  accorded  to  other 
persons.  Thus  Madame  de  Montespan,  although  only  a  marchioness — 
she  could  not  be  created  a  duchess,  as  were  Louise  de  la  Valliere  and 
Mile,  de  Fontanges,  because  that  step  would  have  involved  the  elevation 
of  her  husband — was  given  the  tabouret  by  Louis  XIV,  in  1679. 


236  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

escorted  by  a  hundred  mounted  guards,  under  the  com- 
mand of  M.  de  Monceau,  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the 
late  Cardinal's  Household,  she  set  out  for  Italy.  As  on 
the  occasion  of  her  departure  for  La  Rochelle,  two  years 
before,  Louis  XIV  conducted  her  to  her  coach  and 
gravely  kissed  her  hand.  He  was  evidently  deeply 
moved,  but  no  word  escaped  him.  Marie  was  less  self- 
controlled,  and  burst  into  tears  as  the  coach  drove  away. 
They  were  never  to  meet  again. 

The  journey  to  Milan  was  a  most  trying  and  calami- 
tous one,  and  must  have  seemed  to  Marie,  who,  like 
nearly  all  her  family,  was  intensely  superstitious,  the 
worst  possible  augury  for  the  future.  A  few  days  after 
leaving  Paris,  a  fever  broke  out  among  the  servants,  of 
which  more  than  one  of  them  died.  The  weather, 
while  crossing  the  Simplon  Pass,  was  terrible  ;  the  road 
was  in  an  indescribable  condition,  and  several  men  of 
the  escort  and  their  horses  fell  over  a  precipice  and  were 
dashed  to  pieces.  Nor  did  their  disasters  end  when  the 
mountains  had  been  traversed,  for  the  first  evening 
after  their  arrival  in  Italy,  the  balcony  of  the  house  in 
which  Marie  was  lodged  gave  way,  precipitating  a  num- 
ber of  the  party,  who  had  gathered  there  to  admire  the 
view,  to  the  ground.  The  unfortunate  owner  of  the 
house  was  killed,  while  several  others  received  more  or 
less  serious  injuries.  "  One  saw  only  broken  heads, 
arms,  and  legs  ;  one  heard  only  the  cries  of  the  injured. 
It  was  a  frightful  spectacle  and  calculated  to  move  the 
hardest  heart." 

To  add  to  the  grief  and  terror  which  these  calamities 
must  have  occasioned  her,  poor  Marie  was  so  unlucky 
as  to  offend  the  Archbishop  of  Amasia,  a  most  un- 
pleasant personage,  who  appears  to  have  been  half  mad 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  237 

when  sober  and  altogether  so  when  drunk  ;^  and  the 
estimable  prelate  revenged  himself  by  commiserating  his 
niece  on  the  unhappy  fate  which,  he  declared,  awaited  her 
with  the  Constable,  whom  he  depicted  as  a  libertine  of 
the  most  abandoned  kind  and  a  ferocious  tyrant,  who 
would  keep  her  a  close  prisoner  in  his  palace,  and,  on 
the  slightest  suspicion,  would  not  scruple  to  beat  or 
even  to  poison  her.  Nor  did  he  neglect  to  relate  to 
her,  embellished  with  a  thousand  gruesome  details,  the 
terrible  legend  of  a  Princess  Colonna,  who  was  immured 
by  her  husband  in  the  dungeon  of  an  old  castle,  where 
she  remained  until  every  one  believed  her  dead,  and 
would  assuredly  never  have  seen  the  light  of  day  again, 
had  not  her  moans  attracted  the  attention  of  a  passer-by, 
who  informed  her  relatives  of  her  plight. 

The  unfortunate  Marie  was  so  overcome  by  the 
archbishop's  discourse,  that  she  announced  her  inten- 
tion of  immediately  petitioning  the  Pope  to  annul  her 
marriage,  and  it  required  all  the  efforts  of  the  Marchese 
d'Angelelli  and  the  Constable's  brother,  the  amiable 
Abbate  Colonna,  afterwards  Prince  of  Sonnino,  who 
joined  them  a  day  or  two  after  they  entered  Italy,  to 
reassure  her.^ 

A  few  miles  from  Milan,  the  party  was  met  by  the 
Constable  Colonna  and  one  of  his  friends,  the  Marques 

^  He  was  the  youngest  brother  of  the  Constable's  father,  Filippo 
Colonna,  and  was  born  in  1602.  In  his  youth,  he  bore  the  title  of  Duca 
di  Marsi.  Having  killed  a  young  nobleman  in  a  duel,  he  was  compelled 
to  leave  Rome,  and  took  service  with  the  Spaniards  in  Flanders.  In 
1638,  stimulated  perhaps  by  remorse  for  his  crime,  he  returned  to  Rome 
and  took  Orders.  He  did  not,  however,  deem  it  necessary  to  lay  aside 
the  manners  and  morals  of  the  worst  type  of  mercenary  soldier  with  his 
sword  and  uniform. 

2  Letter  of  the  Abbe  Benedetti  to  Lionne,  Archives  des  Affaires 
Etrangeres,  published  by  Lucien  Perey,  "  Une  Princesse  romaine  au 
xvii^  si^cle  :  Marie  Mancini  Colonna." 


238  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Spinola  de  los  Balbases,^  who,  at  Colonna's  request,  ad- 
vanced first  to  greet  Marie,  representing  himself  to  be 
her  husband.  As  the  marquis  was  middle-aged  and  of 
far  from  prepossessing  appearance,  while  she  had  been 
led  to  believe  that,  to  the  eye  at  least,  the  Constable  was 
all  that  could  be  desired,  the  poor  girl  was  bitterly  dis- 
appointed, "  received  his  compliments  with  a  coldness 
equal  to  her  surprise,"  and,  turning  to  one  of  her  wait- 
ing-women, remarked  in  French,  that,  "  if  this  were  the 
husband  intended  for  her,  she  would  decline  to  have 
him,  and  that  he  might  seek  a  wife  elsewhere." 

The  waiting-woman,  however,  who  happened  to  have 
seen  a  portrait  of  Colonna,  recognised  him  instantly,  and 
pointed  him  out  to  her  mistress,  who  was  immensely 
relieved  at  finding  that  she  had  been  mistaken. 

The  Constable,  having  welcomed  his  bride,  conducted 
her  to  a  little  pleasure-house  in  the  vicinity,  where  a 
sumptuous  repast  had  been  prepared,  after  partaking  of 
which,  they  proceeded  to  Milan,  at  whose  gates  they 
were  received  by  the  Governor,  the  Duca  di  Gaetano, 
and  the  principal  citizens. 

Milanese  society  was,  of  course,  eager  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  the  lady  who  had  had  the  King  of 
France  at  her  feet,  and,  during  the  few  days  which 
Marie  and  her  husband  spent  in  the  city,  "  the  ladies  of 
the  first  quality  vied  with  one  another  in  giving  magni- 
ficent entertainments  in  her  honour."  "But,"  continues 
Marie,  "the  fatigues  of  the  journey,  the  grief  at  finding 
myself  separated  from  my  relatives,  and,  above  all,  alas  1 
my  sorrow  at  having  left  France,  rendered  me  in  the 
worst  humour  conceivable,  which  occasioned  consider- 

^  He  was  an  Italian,  although  he  bore  a  Spanish  title,  and  a  grandson 
of  Ambrogio  Spinola,  the  celebrated  general  of  the  Thirty  Years  War. 
The  marquis,  a  year  or  two  later,  married  a  sister  of  Lorenzo  Colonna. 


LOW:NZ'O\OhKiOG0lj0.%-'l    |^~\\PHi\CIPI    POMWO 


Dufo  <^ 
jWaniicsc 

JcSaContcJJ 


I     i  liauaji  -  L 


N  i^'-r ' 


\_mJ 


From  an  engraving  after  the  drawing  by  (liacomo  Bichi 

LORENZO   ONOFRIO   COLONNA,   PRINCIPE   DI    PALLIANO, 
GRAND  CONSTABLE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  NAPLES 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  239 

able  uneasiness  to  the  Constable,  who  did  everything 
possible  to  afford  me  diversion."^ 

Colonna,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to  have  been 
charmed  with  his  bride,  the  more  so,  since  he  found 
that  certain  fears  which  he  had  entertained  in  regard  to 
the  nature  of  her  relations  with  Louis  XIV  had  been 
without  justification.  "The  Constable,"  writes  Hor- 
tense,  "  who  had  at  first  believed  that  the  love  of  kings 
could  not  be  innocent,  was  so  delighted  to  find  the 
contrary  in  the  person  of  my  sister,  that  he  made  no 
account  of  not  being  the  first  who  had  gained  her  heart. 
He  lost  the  bad  opinion  which,  like  all  Italians,  he  pos- 
sessed of  the  liberty  accorded  to  ladies  in  France,  and 
decided  to  allow  her  the  same  liberty  at  Rome,  since  he 
found  she  used  it  so  discreetly."^ 

As  Colonna  was  anxious  to  reach  Rome  before  the 
heat  of  the  summer  reached  its  height,  he  and  his  young 
wife  only  remained  ten  days  in  Milan,  and  then  set  out 
on  their  journey  southward,  while  Madame  de  Venel 
and  the  escort  returned  to  Paris.  Immediately  on  her 
arrival  in  Milan,  the  gouvernante  had  written  as  Louis 
XIV  had  enjoined  upon  her,  giving  him  a  full  account 
of  the  incidents  of  the  journey  ;  but  she  appears  to 
have  said  nothing  about  the  health  of  the  Constabless, 
who  was  very  far  from  well.  To  this  letter,  the  King 
replied  in  terms  which  show  the  tender  interest  which 
he  still  felt  for  Marie. 

Louis  XIV  to  Madame  de  Venel. 

"  Fontainebleaii,  20  June  1661. 
"  Madame  de  Venel, — I  have  been  very  pleased  to 
hear,  from  your  letter  from  Milan,  of  the  happy  suc- 

^  "  La  Verite  dans  son  jour." 

2  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


240  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

cess  of  your  journey  and  the  termination  of  your  ad- 
ventures. 

"After  having  guarded  a  treasure  with  the  utmost 
vigilance,  there  was  nothing  more  honourable  than  to 
hand  it  over  in  perfect  safety  to  the  person  to  whom  it 
belongs,  as  you  have  done,  thereby  proving  still  further 
that  you  are  deserving  of  the  custody  of  more  im- 
portant ones/  which  I  have  resolved  to  entrust  to  you 
the  moment  I  am  able."  ^ 

The  Constable  and  Marie  journeyed  by  easy  stages 
to  Loretto,  where  the  latter  became  so  ill  that  it  was 
impossible  for  her  to  proceed  further.  A  violent  attack 
of  brain-fever  declared  itself,  and  for  many  days  the 
unhappy  girl  lay  between  life  and  death.  Her  husband, 
in  despair,  sent  out  messengers  to  scour  the  town  and 
all  the  country  round  for  doctors,  and  at  one  time  nearly 
a  dozen  medical  gentlemen  were  gathered  round  the 
sick-bed.  All  agreed  that  the  illness  was  a  dangerous 
one,  but  no  one  seemed  able  to  propose  any  remedy 
which  his  colleagues  felt  themselves  justified  in  trying. 
To  make  matters  worse,  the  Archbishop  of  Amasia 
persecuted  the  luckless  invalid  with  zealous  exhortations, 
"  never  entering  her  room  without  informing  her  that 
no  hope  of  saving  her  life  remained,  and  that  she  must 
prepare  for  death."  At  length,  two  celebrated  phy- 
sicians arrived  from  Rome,  followed  closely  by  Marie's 
uncle,  Cardinal  Mancini.  The  Roman  doctors  soon 
got  rid  of  the  incompetent  throng  which  beset  the 
house  ;  the  Cardinal,  a  kindly  and  practical  man,  turned 

As  a  reward  for  her  services,  Mazarin  and  Anne  of  Austria  had 
some  time  before  persuaded  the  King  to  promise  Madame  de  Venel  the 
post  of  sous-gouvernante  to  his  daughters,  should  any  be  born  to  him. 
2  "  CEuvres  de  Louis  XIV." 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  241 

the  archbishop  as  courteously  as  he  could  out  of  the 
sick-room,  and  the  Constabless  began  to  mend/  At 
length,  she  was  pronounced  fit  to  continue  her  journey, 
and,  towards  the  end  of  July,  arrived  in  Rome. 

During  her  illness,  Louis  XIV,  who  had  learned  from 
the  Duchesse  de  Mazarin  of  her  sister's  condition, 
showed  himself  much  concerned,  and  wrote  to  Loretto, 
requesting  that  a  courier  should  be  despatched  every  day 
to  inform  him  how  she  fared.  On  reaching  their  destina- 
tion, the  Constable  Colonna  lost  no  time  in  acquainting 
the  King  with  their  safe  arrival  and  of  his  wife's  con- 
valescence, to  which  his  Majesty  replied  in  the  following 
letter,  wherein  it  is  not  difficult  to  detect  an  under- 
current of  bitterness. 

Louis  XIV  to  the  Constable  Colonna. 

"  Fontainebleau,  6  August  1 661. 

"  My  Cousin, — After  the  fatigues  of  a  long  journey 
and  a  dangerous  illness,  it  is  not  a  small  thing  that 
my  cousin,  your  wife,  should  have  at  last  arrived  in 
Rome  in  a  state  of  convalescence.  I  have  been  very 
pleased  to  learn  this  good  news,  from  the  letter  which 
you  have  written  me,  trusting  that  the  repose  and  satis- 
faction of  being  with  you  will  soon  restore  her  to  per- 
fect health,  a  consummation  which  I  desire  with  all  my 
heart.      I   have  remarked  also  with  great  pleasure   the 

1  But  one  of  the  doctors  to  whom  she  owed  her  life  nearly  lost  his. 
Benedetti  writes  :  "  Supping  one  day  with  the  doctors  who  had  been 
summoned  from  Rome,  the  Archbishop  of  Amasia  hastened  to  furnish 
them  with  an  occasion  to  practise  their  art  upon  themselves.  One  of  the 
doctors  having  dared  to  contradict  him  about  the  cause  of  Madame's  ill- 
ness, he  threw  a  knife  full  at  his  chest,  which  was  intended  to  kill  him, 
and  inflicted  so  grievous  a  wound  that  he  was  for  some  days  in  danger  of 
death.  The  following  morning,  the  archbishop  went  complacently  to 
make  his  excuses,  remarking  that  he  had  been  somewhat  heated  with 
wine." 


242  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

sentiments  which  she  has  preserved  towards  myself,  and 
that  they  are  shared  by  you.  Be  assured  that  mine 
will  ever  be  for  you  and  her  such  as  you  will  desire 
them  to  be,  and  that  I  shall  joyfully  embrace  every 
occasion  of  proving  it  to  you  by  my  actions."^ 

1  "  Oiuvres  de  Louis  XIV." 


CHAPTER    XII 

Failure  of  Maria  Theresa  to  gain  tlie  affection  of  Louis  XIV — The  King 
resumes  his  relations  with  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons — But  leaves  her 
for  Louise  de  la  Valliere — The  Marquis  de  Vardes — He  becomes 
the  countess's  lover — And  intrigues  with  her  and  the  Comte  de  Guiche 
against  La  Valliere — The  Spanish  letter — Madame  de  Soissons  and 
Vardes  attempt  to  supplant  La  Valliere  by  Mile,  de  la  Motte- 
Houdancourt — Discovery  of  the  authors  of  the  Spanish  letter  plot — 
Madame  de  Soissons  exiled,  but  soon  recalled  to  Court — Marriage  of 
Marianne  Mancini  to  the  Due  de  Bouillon — Her  patronage  of  men  of 
letters — Her  friendship  with  La  Fontaine — She  urges  him  to  compose 
his  fables — And  his  tales — Her  intrigue  to  secure  the  failure  of 
Racine's  «  Phedre." 


"T^ESTINY,  which  is  above  kings,  has  disposed  of 
^^^  us  contrary  to  our  inclinations,"  Louis  XIV  had 
said  on  the  eve  of  Marie  Mancini's  marriage.  If  such 
were  the  case  with  the  girl  whom  he  had  so  passionately 
loved,  it  was  even  more  so  with  himself.  It  would, 
indeed,  have  been  difficult  to  find  a  woman  more  un- 
suited  in  every  way,  save  that  of  birth,  to  be  the  consort 
of  the  young  King  of  France  than  the  Infanta  Maria 
Theresa.  To  retain  the  affections  of  Louis  XIV,  a 
woman  required  more  than  beauty  :  she  needed  to 
possess,  and  to  possess  in  a  very  marked  degree,  the 
faculty  of  pleasing.  This  was,  in  great  part,  the  secret 
of  the  influence  of  Marie  Mancini,  of  the  twelve  years* 
empire  of  Madame  de  Montespan,  of  the  long  ascendency 
of  Madame  de  Maintenon.  The  lack  of  it  accounts 
for  the  fall  of  La  Vallitre  from  favour,  notwithstanding 

243 


244  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

all  the  claims  she  had  upon  the  consideration  of  her  royal 
lover,  the  brief  reign  of  Mile,  de  Fontanges,  and  the 
failure  of  many  another  empty-headed  beauty  to  make 
more  than  the  most  transient  impression  upon  his 
Majesty's  heart.  And  it  was  in  this,  far  more  than  in 
physical  attractions,  that  poor  Maria  Theresa  was  found 
wanting. 

Her  ignorance  was  profound  ;  she  had  come,  for 
instance,  to  France  unable  even  to  read,  much  less  to 
converse,  in  French,  and  appears  to  have  experienced  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  obtaining  even  a  superficial  know- 
ledge of  the  language.  Reared  in  the  most  cramping 
conditions  of  Spanish  etiquette,  her  every  word  and  action 
were  governed  by  the  most  punctilious  regard  for 
ceremonial  ;  while  her  timidity  was  such  that  she  was  ill 
at  ease  in  the  company  of  any  but  her  immediate  attend- 
ants and  the  Queen-Mother,  and  positively  trembled  in 
the  presence  of  the  King,  whom,  however,  she  loved 
with  an  almost  pathetic  devotion.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, it  is  scarcely  a  matter  for  surprise  that  Louis, 
unable  to  derive  any  pleasure  from  her  society,  should 
have  sought  companionship  and  amusement  elsewhere. 
Nor  had  he  far  to  seek. 

"  The  King,"  writes  La  Fare,  *'  was  on  the  most 
intimate  terms  with  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  whom  he 
visited  every  day."  The  intriguing  Olympe  had  received, 
as  the  reward  of  her  assistance  in  the  Cardinal's  little 
plot  to  keep  Louis  XIV  and  her  sister  apart,  the  post  of 
Superintendent  of  the  Queen's  Household,  in  virtue  of 
which  she  had  become  the  greatest  lady  of  the  Court. 
But  her  ambition  was  far  from  satisfied  :  she  dreamed  of 
an  empire  such  as  no  woman  had  exercised  in  France 
since  the  days  of  Diane  de  Poitiers,  and  was  resolved  to 
leave  no  means  untried  to  attain  her  goal. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  245 

That,  however,  she  was  never  to  reach,  nor  even  to 
approach.  A  flirtation  with  the  charming  Henrietta  of 
England,  who,  at  the  end  of  March  1661,  had  become 
the  wife  of  Monsieur,  an  affair  which  greatly  exercised  the 
minds  of  the  Queen-Mother  and  Maria  Theresa,  though 
it  would  appear  to  have  been  innocent  enough,  was 
followed  by  the  rise  to  favour  of  the  gentle  La  Valliere ; 
and  if  his  Majesty  continued  his  visits  to  the  Hotel  de 
Soissons,  it  was  but  too  evident  that  it  was  the  high  play 
which  went  on  there  rather  than  the  beaux  yeux  of  its 
mistress  which  was  the  attraction. 

But,  though  the  King  remained  insensible  to  the 
blandishments  of  the  countess,  he  was  not  insensible  to 
the  mortification  which  that  lady  was  powerless  to  conceal 
at  the  cessation  of  those  tender  passages  between  them, 
from  which  she  had  hoped  so  much.  Perhaps,  he 
believed  that,  as  with  La  Valliere,  it  was  the  man,  and  not 
the  king,  whom  Madame  de  Soissons  loved  ;  perhaps, 
he  feared  that  the  countess,  ever  a  dangerous  person  to 
affront,  might  vent  her  displeasure  on  his  inoffensive 
Louise.  Any  way,  he  determined  to  provide  her  with- 
out loss  of  time  with  a  new  gallant,  and,  accordingly, 
ordered  his  friend  and  confidant,  the  Marquis  de  Vardes, 
to  lay  siege  to  her  heart. 

A  terrible  fellow  was  this  Marquis  de  Vardes.  Hand- 
some, brave,  audacious,  and  wholly  devoid  of  scruple, 
the  anecdotes  about  him  are  innumerable.  There  was 
not  a  woman  so  virtuous  or  so  highly  placed  to  whose 
love  he  did  not  presume  to  aspire  ;  not  a  man,  however 
great  his  skill  with  the  rapier,  whom  he  would  not  "  call 
out "  on  the  slightest  provocation.  He  fought  with  the 
Due  de  Saint-Simon,  father  of  the  author  of  the  famous 
"  Memoires,"  and  the  Comte  du  Lude  ;  he  overcame 
the  resistance  of  the  beautiful  Duchesse  de  Roquelaure, 


246  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

whose  virtue  had  until  then  withstood  all  assaults  upon 
it,^  and  even  dared  to  raise  his  eyes  to  the  Princesse  de 
Conti — she  who  had  publicly  rebuffed  the  advances  of 
Louis  XIV  himself — and  met  with  no  worse  fate  than  a 
gentle  reproof;  and  there  are,  indeed,  some  chroniclers 
who  affect  to  believe  that  his  efforts  in  that  quarter 
might  eventually  have  been  crowned  with  success,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  vigilance  of  her  jealous  husband.  When 
we  mention  that  to  his  skill  in  fencing  and  love-making 
he  joined  a  biting  wit  and  a  talent  for  backstairs  intrigue 
which  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  rival,  it  will  be 
admitted  that  M.  de  Vardes  was  a  force  to  be  reckoned 
with  at  the  Court  of  le  Grand  Monarque. 

M.  de  Vardes  hastened  to  obey  his  sovereign's  com- 
mand ;  he  would  have  obeyed  with  equal  promptitude, 
though,  perhaps,  with  less  willingness,  if  Madame  de 
Soissons  had  been  a  withered  dowager  of  three-score, 
instead  of  a  handsome  young  woman  of  twenty-five,  for 
he  prided  himself  on  being  a  consummate  courtier, 
which  meant  that  there  was  no  action  too  dishonourable 
for  him  to  commit  in  order  to  gain  his  Majesty's  favour. 
Olympe,  on  her  side,  received  his  professions  of  devotion 
very  graciously.  Was  not  her  new  soupirant  "  the  best- 
made  and  most  amiable  man  in  France".''^  She  was 
calculating  and  ambitious,  but  she  was  an  Italian  and 
naturally  ardent.  Soon  her  liking  for  the  marquis  had 
developed  into  a  veritable  passion,  which  was  patent  to 

1  During  one  of  his  visits  to  the  duchess,  the  duke,  who  was  exceed- 
ingly jealous,  returned  home  unexpectedly,  and,  to  avoid  compromising  the 
lady,  M.  de  Vardes  was  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  a  cellar,  where  he 
remained  for  two  days.  On  emerging  from  his  retreat,  faint  with  hunger 
and  thirst,  and  with  a  fine  coat  completely  ruined,  he  decided  that  the  game 
was  not  worth  the  inconveniences  attached  to  it,  and  poor  Madame  de 
Roquelaure  saw  him  no  more.  After  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  console 
herself  with  Monsieur,  she  died,  so  the  chroniclers  say,  of  a  broken  heart. 

2  "  Menioires  de  Daniel  de  Cosnac." 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  247 

every  one,  save  her  husband,  who  was  the  most  un- 
suspicious, or,  perhaps,  the  most  complacent,  of  men. 
None  of  the  countess's  admirers  need  fear  that  they 
would  be  required  to  take  shelter  in  the  cellars  of  the 
Hotel  de  Soissons. 

But,  though  Olympe  had  found  some  consolation  for 
her  wounded  vanity  in  the  attentions  of  Vardes,  she 
was  none  the  less  resolved  to  separate  the  King  and  La 
Valliere.  She,  therefore,  took  counsel  with  her  lover 
and  the  Comte  de  Guiche,  son  of  the  Marechal  de 
Gramont,  a  vain  and  foolish  young  man,^  who  had  a 
grudge  against  La  Valliere  for  having  once  rejected 
his  addresses,  and  decided  to  raise  a  scandal  before 
which,  they  judged,  the  sensitive  girl  must  inevitably 
succumb. 

The  plan  of  the  conspirators  was  to  send  an  anony- 
mous letter,  containing  a  full,  true,  and  particular  account 
of  the  manner  in  which  his  Majesty  spent  a  great  part 
of  his  leisure,  to  the  Queen,  who,  thanks  to  the 
exertions  of  Anne  of  Austria,  was  still  under  the  delu- 
sion that  there  was  "  nothing  but  mere  friendship " 
between  her  husband  and  La  Valliere.  This  letter  was 
composed  by  Madame  de  Soissons  and  Vardes,  and  trans- 
lated into  Spanish  by  Guiche,  who  was  well  acquainted 
with  that  language,  as  Maria  Theresa  was  still  so 
ignorant  of  French  that  she  might  have  failed  to  under- 
stand it,  if  the  vernacular  had  been  employed.  It  was 
then  enclosed  in  an  envelope  addressed  in  the  hand- 
writing of  the  Queen  of  Spain — which  Madame  de 
Soissons  had  stolen  from  her  royal  mistress's  apart- 
ments— in  order  to  make  sure  of  its  reaching  its 
destination  unopened. 

Fortunately  for  poor  Maria  Theresa's  peace  of  mind, 

*  But  in  war,  according  to  Madame  de  Sevigne,  "a  hero  of  romance." 


248  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

the  letter  fell  into  the  hands  of  Donna  Molina,  a  Spanish 
lady  in  the  Queen's  service,  who,  fearing  that  it  might 
contain  some  bad  news  concerning  the  King  of  Spain, 
who  was  seriously  ill,  took  upon  herself  the  responsibility 
of  opening  it,  and  promptly  carried  it  to  Louis  XIV. 

The  King,  having  read  the  letter,  "blushed,  and  ap- 
peared surprised  at  the  adventure."  He  resolved  that 
whoever  had  had  the  presumption  to  meddle  with  his 
private  affairs  should  have  abundant  cause  to  rue  their 
temerity  ;  but,  as  the  person  whom  he  employed  to  in- 
vestigate the  matter  was  none  other  than  Vardes  him- 
self, it  is  hardly  surprising  that  the  culprits  escaped 
detection. 

Undeterred  by  the  failure  of  their  plot,  a  few  months 
later,  Madame  de  Soissons  and  Vardes  brought  forward  a 
rival  to  La  Valliere,  in  the  person  of  Mile,  de  la  Motte- 
Houdancourt,  one  of  the  Queen's  Jilles  cThonneur^  "  who, 
though  no  sparkling  beauty,  had  drawn  away  lovers  from 
the  celebrated  Menneville(one  of  Fouquet's  mistresses)."^ 
She  very  nearly  succeeded  in  drawing  away  La  Valliere's 
as  well,  for  she  contrived  to  persuade  the  King  that, 
although  hitherto  of  unblemished  virtue,  she  was  vio- 
lently in  love  with  him,  and  wrote  him  the  most  eloquent 
letters,  which  had  been  composed  for  her  by  Vardes  and 
the  countess.  Moreover,  Louis's  passion  was  stimulated 
by  the  rivalry  of  the  Chevalier  de  Gramont,  the  hero  of 
Count  Hamilton's  "  Memoires,"  who,  it  appears,  had 
never  given  the  damsel  a  thought  until  he  found  that 
she  was  honoured  by  his  sovereign's  attentions,  when 
he  forthwith  concluded  that  she  must  be  worthy  of  his. 
He  soon  had  reason  to  regret  his  folly  in  believing  that 

1  Hamilton's  "  Memoires  de  Gramont."  The  King  had  paid  this 
damsel  considerable  attention  during  the  winter  of  1657-8,  but  his  grow- 
ing passion  for  Marie  Mancini  had  prevented  the  affair  going  very  far. 
See  p.  75  supra. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  249 

love  renders  all  things  equal,  for  Mile,  de  la  Motte, 
who  had  no  use  for  such  small  fry  as  the  chevalier  when 
there  was  a  king  ready  to  fall  at  her  feet,  complained  of 
his  importunities  to  her  royal  admirer,  and,  one  fine  day, 
M.  de  Gramont  received  a  peremptory  order  to  retire 
from  Court. 

Meanwhile,  poor  La  Valliere,  whom  kind  friends 
had,  of  course,  taken  care  to  inform  of  what  was  in 
progress,  v/as  plunged  in  the  depths  of  despair.  But 
Louis,  piqued  by  the  resistance  of  La  Motte,  who  con- 
tinued to  simulate  virtue  with  considerable  skill,  paid  no 
heed  to  her  reproaches,  and  pressed  his  suit  with  such 
ardour  that  the  Duchesse  de  Navailles,  the  Queen's 
dame  d'honneur^  who  was  responsible  for  the  good  con- 
duct of  La  Motte  and  her  colleagues,  deemed  it  expedient 
to  place  iron  gratings  before  the  windows  of  her  charges' 
apartments,  in  order  to  guard  against  accidents.  This 
precautionary  measure  greatly  incensed  his  Majesty, 
who  stigmatized  the  duchess  as  "  an  extravagant  re- 
former of  the  human  race  " ;  and  Vardes,  quick  to  per- 
ceive his  opportunity,  now  informed  the  King  that  he 
had  discovered  that  the  writer  of  the  anonymous  letter 
to  Maria  Theresa  was  Madame  de  Navailles  herself; 
upon  which,  Louis,  without  apparently  troubling  to  ex- 
amine the  supposed  proofs,  promptly  banished  the  poor 
lady  and  her  husband  from  Court. 

At  length.  Mile,  de  la  Motte,  acting  on  instructions 
from  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  professed  herself  ready 
to  surrender.  She  made,  however,  one  stipulation  :  the 
instant  dismissal  of  La  Valliere.  Louis  protested,  but 
the  lady  was  inexorable,  and  it  is  quite  probable  that  she 
would  have  carried  her  point,  had  not  Anne  of  Austria, 
who,  though  she  had  no  love  for  La  Valliere,  had  still 
less   for    the   intriguing   maid-of-honour,    intercepted    a 


250  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

letter  written  by  one  of  Madame  de  Soissons's  friends  to 
La  Motte,  and  containing  overwhelming  proof  that  the 
girl  was  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  others,  and  laid  it 
before  her  son.  Highly  indignant  at  the  manner  in 
which  he  had  been  tricked,  the  King  at  once  broke  off 
all  relations  with  La  Motte,  who  was  shortly  afterwards 
dismissed  from  the  Queen's  service,  for  having  received 
one  of  her  admirers,  the  Marquis  de  Richelieu,  in  her 
apartments,  in  defiance  of  her  Majesty's  orders. 

After  this  second  failure,  Madame  de  Soissons  had 
recourse  to  other  and  far  more  serious  methods  of  war- 
fare against  La  Valliere — methods  which  were  one  day  to 
lead  to  her  disgrace  and  expulsion  from  France  ;  but  of 
this  we  shall  speak  later  on. 

In  the  meanwhile,  it  is  satisfactory  to  know  that,  in 
1665,  the  real  authors  of  the  Spanish  letter  plot  were 
discovered,  and  the  poor  Due  and  Duchesse  de  Navailles 
exculpated,  recalled  to  Court,  and  reinstated  in  the  royal 
favour.  Had  not  the  conspirators  fallen  out  among  them- 
selves, however,  it  is  highly  improbable  that  the  truth 
would  ever  have  come  to  light.  The  facts  were  as 
follows. 

The  Comte  de  Guiche  was  in  love  with  Henrietta  of 
Orleans  [Madame),  who  certainly  seems  to  have  given 
him  every  encouragement  to  hope  for  the  best,  or  worst, 
though,  as  in  the  opinion  of  La  Fare — a  writer  by  no 
means  inclined  to  credit  any  lady  with  virtue  who  had 
not  given  ample  proof  of  possessing  it — the  princess 
was  "  virtuous,  though  a  trifle  coquettish,"  it  is  im- 
probable that  the  affair  ever  went  beyond  the  bounds  of  a 
violent  flirtation.^     The  Marquis  de  Vardes  also  aspired 

1  For  further  details  in  regard  to  the  relations  between  Madame  and 
the  Comte  de  Guiche,  see  Madame  de  la  Fayette's  **  Histoire  de  Madame 
Henriette  d'Angleterre,"  and  Julia  Cartwright's  (Mrs.  Henry  Ady) 
"Madame.  ' 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  251 

to  add  Madame  to  the  list  of  his  conquests,  intrigued 
against  Guiche,  whose  confidant  he  was,  and  succeeded  in 
getting  him  sent  to  Lorraine.  So  cleverly  did  he  manage 
the  affair  that  Guiche  left  Paris  without  having  the  least 
suspicion  that  he  owed  his  separation  from  his  inamorata 
to  the  machinations  of  the  marquis,  to  whom  he  arranged 
to  entrust  his  correspondence  with  the  princess.  In  virtue 
of  his  position  as  intermediary,  Vardes  enjoyed  constant 
access  to  Madame^  and,  having  won  her  confidence,  pro- 
ceeded to  make  love  to  her  on  his  own  account.  At  first, 
Madame  appeared  far  from  displeased  at  his  attentions, 
and  drove  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  frantic  with  jealousy  ; 
but  her  heart  still  belonged  to  the  absent  Guiche,  and 
she  declined  to  transfer  it  to  the  marquis.  Angered  by 
the  rejection  of  his  suit,  Vardes  refused  to  deliver  up 
certain  very  tender  letters  which  the  lovers  had  confided 
to  his  care,  and  also  informed  the  King  of  the  contents 
of  a  letter  of  another  kind,  which  Madame  had  entrusted 
to  him  for  transmission  to  her  brother,  Charles  II,  in 
England.  Not  content  with  this  treachery,  he  next 
proceeded  to  let  fall  some  highly  injudicious  remarks 
concerning  the  princess,  and  one  day  observed  to  the 
Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  who  was  paying  court  to  one  of 
Henrietta's  filks  d'honneur^  that  it  was  a  pity  that  he 
wasted  his  time  on  the  maid,  when  the  mistress  was  such 
an  easy  conquest.  This  speech  was  duly  reported  to 
Madame^  who  complained  to  the  King,  with  the  result 
that  one  evening  M.  de  Vardes  supped  in  Bastille. 

On  learning  of  the  misfortune  which  had  befallen  her 
lover,  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  was  beside  herself  with 
grief  and  indignation.  Her  wrath  against  Madame, 
who,  she  declared,  had  twice  robbed  her  of  him,  "  first 
by  love  and  now  by  hatred,"  knew  no  bounds.  Straight 
to   the  King  she  went,  thinking  only  of  revenge,  and 


252  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

determined  to  repay  the  probable  ruin  of  her  lover  by 
that  of  Guiche,  against  whom  she  proceeded  to  launch 
all  manner  of  accusations.  He  had  committed  we  know 
not  what  crime  against  the  State  ;  he  had  attempted  to 
betray  Dunkerque  to  the  English  ;  he  had  written  the 
Spanish  letter  to  the  Queen.  Madame^  to  whom  Guiche 
had,  some  time  before,  confided  the  truth  about  that 
too  celebrated  epistle,  arrived  upon  the  scene  almost 
at  the  same  moment,  and  denounced  Vardes  and  the 
countess.  Between  the  two  furious  women  his  Majesty 
must  have  spent  a  very  unpleasant  quarter  of  an  hour, 
but,  by  way  of  compensation,  he  ended  by  learning 
everything. 

In  the  result,  Vardes  was  removed  from  the  Bastille  to 
the  citadel  of  Montpellier,  and  subsequently  banished  to 
his  government  of  Aigues-Mortes,  in  Provence,  where  he 
remained  until  1683;  Guiche  was  sent  on  foreign  service  ; 
while  Madame  de  Soissons  and  her  husband — who,  poor 
man !  was  entirely  innocent  of  any  complicity  in  the 
affair — were  ordered  to  retire  to  Champagne,  of  which 
province  the  count  was  governor. 

Their  exile  was  not,  however,  of  long  duration,  and,  at 
the  end  of  a  few  months,  Olympe  returned  to  Paris  and 
resumed  her  functions  as  Superintendent  of  the  Queen's 
Household  and  her  life  of  pleasure  and  intrigue.  The 
King,  however,  seldom  visited  the  Hotel  de  Soissons, 
and  treated  the  countess  somewhat  coldly,  if  always  with 
courtesy.  To  console  herself  for  the  loss  of  Vardes, 
Olympe  took  a  disciple  of  his,  the  Marquis  de  Villeroi, 
called  by  the  ladies  "  le  Charmant^''  into  favour,  and  ad- 
mitted him  to  her  hotel  on  the  same  footing  as  that 
which  that  Titan  of  intrigue  and  gallantry  had  formerly 
occupied.  If  we  are  to  believe  the  chansons  of  the  time, 
M.   de  Villeroi    had   more    than    one    coadjutor  in  his 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  253 

office  of  amant-en-titre ;  but  that  does  not  seem  to  be  the 
opinion  of  the  best-informed  contemporary  writers,  and 
historians  like  Walckenaer,  who  accuse  the  countess  of 
leading  a  life  of  depravity,  probably  do  her  an  injustice. 
She  was  far  too  haughty  and  fastidious  ever  to  stoop  to 
vulgar  amours.  Let  us,  however,  leave  Olympe  for  a 
time  to  speak  of  the  fortunes  of  her  sisters. 

A  few  days  before  Mazarin's  death,  a  visitor  presented 
himself  at  the  door  of  the  Cardinal's  sick-room,  and  re- 
quested a  private  interview  with  his  Eminence.  It  was 
the  famous  Marechal  Turenne,  to  whom  Mazarin  had 
once  desired  to  wed  Hortense,  and  he  had  come  to  ask 
for  the  hand  of  another  of  Mazarin's  nieces,  the  thirteen- 
year-old  Marianne,  not  for  himself,  but  for  his  nephew, 
Maurice  Godefroy  de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne,  Due  de 
Bouillon.  Turenne  had  made  the  same  request  some 
time  before,  and  the  Cardinal  had  promised  to  consider 
the  matter.  Thinking,  however,  that  Marianne  was  too 
young  to  marry,  or,  perhaps,  that  he  might  be  able  to  find 
for  her  a  more  brilliant  match,  he  had  as  yet  returned  no 
definite  answer,  and  the  result  had  been  some  coolness 
between  him  and  the  marshal.  Now,  however,  that  the 
Cardinal  lay  on  his  death-bed,  Turenne  resolved  to  be 
reconciled  to  his  old  friend,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
endeavour  to  gain  his  consent  to  the  union  of  their 
families.  It  was  some  days,  however,  before  he  w;.s 
able  to  obtain  the  private  interview  upon  whicn  ne 
insisted,  and  when  at  length  he  was  successful,  the 
Cardinal  seemed  disinclined  to  discuss  the  question  of 
the  marriage,  though  he  was  delighted  at  the  visit  of 
the  man  whose  sword  had  restored  his  fallen  fortunes 
during  the  Fronde,  declared  that  he  would  die  his 
servant    and    friend,   and,   drawing  a   magnificent   ring 


254  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

from  one  of  his  wasted  fingers,  begged  the  marshal  to 
wear  it  in  remembrance  of  him. 

Turenne  returned  to  Paris  without  even  broaching  the 
matter  which  had  brought  him  to  Vincennes,  and, 
following  the  example  of  the  Marquis  de  la  Meilleraye, 
had  recourse  to  the  good  offices  of  the  Bishop  of  Frejus. 
Whether  he  employed  the  same  means  of  gaining  over 
Ondedei  to  his  interests  as  the  Grand  Master  had  found 
so  efficacious,  is  uncertain  ;  but,  any  way,  the  bishop 
agreed  to  undertake  the  commission.  This  time,  however, 
he  failed.  Mazarin,  who  was  too  near  death  to  trouble 
about  a  marriage  which,  unlike  that  of  Marie,  was  of  no 
particular  urgency,  answered  that  Marianne,  with  her 
fortune,  would  never  want  for  a  husband,  and  refused  to 
discuss  the  subject  further.  Nevertheless,  Ondedei  once 
more  proved  himself  a  valuable  ally,  for,  after  the 
Cardinal's  death,  he  succeeded  in  persuading  Anne  of 
Austria,  with  whom  he  had  great  influence — had  he  not 
been  the  confidant  of  all  Mazarin's  private  affairs  .'' — of 
the  suitability  of  the  match  ;  and  on  22  April  1662, 
the  marriage  of  Marianne  and  the  Due  de  Bouillon  was 
celebrated  in  the  presence  of  the  King  and  Queen,  and 
was  followed  by  brilliant  fetes. 

The  Due  de  Bouillon,  a  soldier  like  his  celebrated 
uncle,  and,  like  him,  entirely  devoted  to  his  profession, 
proved  a  kind  and  indulgent  husband,  but  he  had  no 
tastes  in  common  with  his  wife.  When  his  presence 
was  not  required  in  the  field,  hunting  occupied  the 
greater  part  of  his  time ;  while  the  duchess,  as  may  be 
anticipated  from  her  fondness  for  verse-making,  affected 
intellectual  pursuits,  and  seemed  never  so  happy  as 
when  surrounded  by  a  throng  of  men  and  women  of 
letters  :  Segrais,  Benserade,  Madame  Deshoulieres, 
Menage,  and  others. 


From  a  contemporary  print 

MARIANNE    MANCIXI,    DUCHESSE   DE    BOUILLON 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  255 

Early  in  the  year  1665,  the  Due  de  Bouillon  set  out 
for  Hungary,  to  take  service,  under  Montecuculi, 
against  the  Turks,  and  being  indisposed  to  leave  his 
young  wife,  who  had  lately  given  birth  to  a  son,  unpro- 
tected amid  the  dangers  of  the  Court,  sent  her  to 
Chateau-Thierry,  one  of  his  country-seats,  to  await  his 
return. 

Here  it  was  that  Marianne  became  intimate  with 
the  poet  La  Fontaine,  who  was  to  owe  so  much  to 
her  sympathy  and  encouragement,  and,  in  return,  to 
immortalize  her  in  his  verses. 

La  Fontaine  had  then  just  returned  to  his  native  town 
from  a  three  years'  residence  at  Limoges,  whither  he 
had  accompanied  his  relative  Jannart,  the  friend  of 
Fouquet  and  his  substitute  in  the  office  oi  procureur- 
gineral  to  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  He  was  sadly  in 
need  of  a  new  protector  to  replace  his  first  Maecenas, 
languishing  in  his  cell  at  Pignerol,  and  he  was  fortunate 
enough  to  find  one  in  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon.  It  is 
probable  that  the  poet  had  already  met  the  duchess  at 
Fouquet's  hotel  in  Paris  before  her  marriage,  but  now 
he  was  to  be  afforded  an  opportunity  of  seeing  her 
more  frequently,  and  of  appreciating  her  intelligence 
and  kindness.  He  appreciated  her  beauty  also,  for 
Marianne,  though  she  could  not  boast  the  classic  features 
ot  the  lovely  Hortense,  was  in  her  way  hardly  less 
charming,  with  a  dazzling  complexion,  eyes  which 
sparkled  with  merriment,  a  winning  smile,  and  a  pro- 
fusion of  soft  brown  hair.  Her  figure,  though  some- 
what diminutive,  was  perfectly  formed,  and  she  had 
beautiful  hands  and  feet,  while  an  infinite  grace  charac- 
terised all  her  movements. 

La  Fontaine  soon  conceived  for  her  a  warm  and  de- 


256  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

voted  admiration,  which  he  expressed  both  in  prose  and 

verse — 

Vous  excellez  en  mille  choses. 
Vous  portez  en  tous  lieux  la  joie  et  les  plaisirs  : 
Allez  en  des  climats  inconnus  aux  Zephirs, 
Les  champs  se  vetiront  de  roses. 

It  is  thus  that  he  speaks  of  her  twenty-five  years  later, 
when  she  went  to  join  her  sister  Hortense  in  England, 
and  his  tone  remained  always  the  same,  "  familiarly 
respectful  and  affectionately  admiring." 

**  Nothing  authorises  the  supposition,"  remarks  the 
poet's  biographer,  M.  Georges  Lafenestre,  "that  between 
the  little  grande  dame  and  the  humble,  middle-aged 
bourgeois  there  had  been  any  other  relations  than  those 
of  a  very  lively  sympathy,  the  result  of  a  common  taste 
for  the  same  intellectual  pleasures,  of  the  same  horror 
of  ennui,  and  of  the  same  indulgence  for  the  raptures  of 
passion  and  the  frailties  of  gallantry.  La  Fontaine  has 
honestly  revealed  to  us  his  sentiments,  and  we  have  no 
reason  to  suspect  his  frankness  : 

Peut-on  s'ennuyer  en  des  lieux 
Honores  par  les  pas,  eclaires  par  les  yeux 

D'une  aimable  et  vive  princesse, 
A  pied  blanc  et  mignon,  a  brune  et  longue  tresse  ? 
Nez  trousse,  c'est  un  charme,  encor  selon  mon  sens  ? 
C'en  est  meme  un  des  plus  puissants. 
Pour  moi  le  temps  d'aimer  est  passe,  je  I'avoue ; 

Je  merite  qu'on  me  loue 

De  ce  libre  et  sincere  aveu, 
Dont  pourtant  le  public  se  souciera  tres  peu. 
Que  j'aime  ou  n'aime  pas,  c'est  pour  lui  meme  chose  j 

Mais  s'il  arrive  que  mon  ccEur 
Retourne  a  I'avenir  dans  sa  premiere  erreur, 
Nez  aquilins  et  longs  n'en  seront  pas  la  cause.^ 

^  M.  Georges  Lafenestre's  "La  Fontaine."  The  last  line  of  these 
verses  was  for  Madame  La  Fontaine,  whose  nose  resembled  that  of  her 
husband. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  257 

However  that  may  be.  La  Fontaine  became  one  of 
the  familiar  friends  of  the  Bouillon  household,  both  in 
Paris  and  at  Chateau-Thierry,  and  this  intimacy  was 
indeed  a  fortunate  occurrence  for  his  genius.  Although 
he  was  forty-four  years  of  age  at  the  time  when  he  made, 
or  renewed,  acquaintance  with  Madame  de  Bouillon,  his 
reputation  was  not  yet  made  ;  he  had  only  published  a 
little  volume,  containing  "  Joconde,  la  Matrone  d'Ephese" 
and  other  poems,  and  had  printed  a  few  fables.  He 
found  with  this  great  lady  of  sixteen  summers  the  spur 
which  his  idleness  needed  and  a  keen  appreciation  of 
his  real  powers.  It  was  she  who  marked  out  the  road 
along  which  he  was  to  travel,  and  urged  him  resolutely 
to  compose  his  fables,  and  her  lively  imagination 
furnished  him  with  more  than  one  subject.^  Stimulated 
by  his  patroness.  La  Fontaine's  tardy  genius  at  last  bore 
fruit,  and  so  hard  did  he  work  under  her  supervision 
that  he  published  two  years  later  the  first  six  books 
of  his  fables.  "  But,"  says  the  lady's  biographer, 
M.  Amedee  Renee,  "all  must  be  confessed;  it  was 
not  only  fables  which  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  urged 
the  poet  to  compose.  De  Retz  pretends  that  Mazarin 
had  pleased  Richelieu  and  his  colleagues  by  *  libertine 
tales  of  Italy.'  These  tales,  in  fact,  had  obtained  a 
great  popularity,  whatever  it  was  that  had  opened  the 
door  to  them,  and  the  courtiers  learned  Italian  to  read 
Boccaccio  and  Poggio,  as  one  learns  it  to-day  to  sing 
a  cavatina.  The  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  took  pleasure 
in  the  tales  which  La  Fontaine  extracted  from  "  The 
Decameron  "  ;  it  is  a  taste  that  we  have  no  longer,  but 
her  time  explains  and  excuses  it.     Women  more  severe 

1  It  was  Madame  de  Bouillon,  and  not,  as  some  writers  have  stated, 
Madame  de  Sabliere,  who  surnamed  La  Fontaine  **/<?  Fab/ier"  which 
summed  up  in  a  single  word  his  vocation. 


258  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

than  Marianne  amused  themselves  in  similar  fashion  ; 
Madame  de  Sevigne  and  her  rigorous  daughter^  did  not 
object  to  speak  of  it  in  their  letters.  La  Fontaine, 
charged  to  amuse  his  merry  chatelaine,  enlarged,  accord- 
ingly, his  collection  of  tales  as  well  as  fables.  It  was 
not,  of  course,  at  the  period  when  she  was  sixteen  years 
old  that  Madame  de  Bouillon  showed  so  pronounced 
a  taste  for  this  light  literature  ;  she  did  not  encourage 
this  badinage  until  later,  and  it  was  to  make  a  diversion 
to  his  fables. 

When  the  Due  de  Bouillon  returned  from  Hungary 
and  carried  off  his  wife  to  Paris,  La  Fontaine  followed 
his  patroness,  who  presented  him  to  her  sisters,  Mesdames 
de  Soissons  and  de  Mazarin,  her  brother,  the  Due  de 
Nevers,  who  also  cultivated  the  Muses,  and  her  brother- 
in-law  the  Due  d'Albret,  afterwards  Cardinal  de  Bouillon, 
and  obtained  for  him  the  place  of  gentleman  of  the 
chamber  to  Madame. 

With  the  advent  of  La  Fontaine,  came  more  distin- 
guished members  of  the  Republic  of  Letters  to  the 
Hotel  de  Bouillon  than  those  who  had  formerly  been 
seen  there,  among  them  Moliere  and  the  old  Corneille. 
For  Corneille  the  duchess  seems  to  have  cherished 
almost  as  profound  an  admiration  as  Madame  de 
Sevigne,  and  it  was  this  admiration,  coupled  with  her 
friendship  for  Madame  Deshoulieres,  whose  verses 
Racine  had,  perhaps  unduly,  depreciated,  which  probably 
led,  in  1677,  to  her  ill-advised  attempt  to  sustain  against 
the  author  of  "  Andromaque  "  and  "  Iphigenie,"  a  young 

^  The  Comtesse  de  Grignan.  But  was  Madame  de  Grignan  quite  so 
"  rigorous  "  as  M.  Renee  seems  to  suppose  ?  There  was  some  talk,  of  an 
affair  which  she  had  with  the  Due  de  Vivonne,  Madame  de  Montespan's 
brother,  at  Marseilles  ;  and  the  unusual  bitterness  with  which  her  mother 
speaks  of  that  nobleman  would  appear  to  indicate  that  it  was  not  wholly 
without  foundation. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  259 

and  conceited  poet  named  Pradon,  author  of  a  couple  of 
indifferent  tragedies. 

Racine  was  then  at  work  on  his  immortal  "Phedre,"  and 
the  duchess  persuaded  her  protege  to  compose  a  play 
upon  the  same  subject,  to  be  produced  at  the  Theatre 
Guenegaud  simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of 
Racine's  work  at  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne.  Such 
rivalry  was,  of  course,  legitimate  enough  ;  five  years 
before,  Paris  had  witnessed  a  similar  duel  between 
Racine  and  Corneille  over  the  subject  of  Titus  and 
Berenice,  though,  on  this  occasion,  both  plays  had  been 
written  at  the  suggestion  of  Madame^  and  the  secret 
had  been  so  carefully  kept  that,  until  their  works 
were  actually  in  rehearsal,  the  two  poets  were  alto- 
gether unaware  that  they  were  competing  against  one 
another. 

But  the  same,  unfortunately,  cannot  be  said  of  the 
methods  of  Madame  de  Bouillon  to  ensure  the  success 
of  Pradon's  play  and  the  failure  of  Racine's.  All  went 
well  at  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne  the  first  evening,  the 
management  having  taken  the  precaution  to  exclude  all 
whom  they  suspected  of  being  unfavourably  disposed 
towards  the  author,  and  the  play  was  accorded  a  recep- 
tion which  could  not  fail  to  satisfy  the  most  exacting 
dramatist.  The  following  evening,  however,  matters 
were  very  different ;  to  the  chagrin  of  Racine  and  the 
astonishment  of  the  company,  every  box  on  the  first 
tier  was  empty !  The  same  thing  occurred  on  the 
following  evening  and  the  next  after  that  ;  while,  to 
increase  the  mystery  and  the  poet's  mortification,  the 
boxes  at  the  Theatre  Guenegaud  were  reported  as 
crowded  with  applauding  spectators.  The  explanation 
was  that  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  had  adopted  the  in- 
genious device  of  engaging  in  advance  all  the  best  seats 


26o  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

at  both  houses,  filling  those  at  the  Theatre  Gu^negaud 
with  her  friends  and  leaving  the  others  empty. 

The  feelings  of  Racine  may  be  imagined,  for  that  not 
inconsiderable  section  of  the  public  which  judges  of  the 
merits  of  a  play  solely  by  results  was  beginning  to  assert 
that  his  tragedy  was  a  failure  and  Pradon's  a  brilliant 
success.  After,  however,  the  trick  had  been  played  for 
three  more  nights,  he  triumphed.  Perhaps  Madame  de 
Bouillon  had  begun  to  find  her  experiment,  which  is 
said  to  have  cost  her  15,000  francs,  the  equivalent  of 
five  times  as  much  to-day,  somewhat  too  costly  a  one  to 
be  continued  indefinitely;  or  possibly  Racine,  discovering 
the  tactics  of  his  opponents,  had  appealed  to  the  King 
for  protection,  and  the  duchess  had  received  a  hint  from 
his  Majesty  that  such  practices  could  not  be  permitted. 
Any  way,  the  lady  withdrew  from  the  field,  and,  with 
her  retirement, the  two  "PhMres"  speedily  found  their  re- 
spective levels.  Pradon's  play,  at  best  a  very  mediocre 
work,  had  to  be  withdrawn  after  fifteen  or  sixteen  repre- 
sentations ;  while  Racine's  enjoyed  a  brilliant  run,  and  will 
hold  a  foremost  place  in  the  classic  repertoire  of  the 
Th6atre-Fran9ais  for  all  time.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of 
its  ultimate  success,  Racine  never  forgot  the  mortification 
to  which  he  had  been  subjected,  which,  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  contributed  not  a  little  to  his  decision  to  renounce 
writing  for  the  stage.  As  for  Pradon,  he  paid  dearly  for 
being  the  hero  of  a  coterie  which  used  him  to  wreak  their 
spite  on  a  great  master  of  his  art,  by  remaining  the  type 
of  the  worthless  poet.  However,  he  was  not  without 
talent,  and  his  "Regulus,"  in  which  Baron  achieved  a  great 
success,  remained  in  the  repertoire  for  many  years. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

Hortense  and  the  Due  de  Mazarin — Eccentricities  of  the  duke — His 
jealousy  and  tyrannical  treatment  of  his  wife — He  takes  possession  of 
her  jewels — Temporary  separation  between  them — They  are  recon- 
ciled, but  quarrel  anew — Hortense  sent  to  the  Abbey  of  Chelles  and. 
afterwards  to  the  Couvent  des  Filles  de  Sainte-Marie — Sidonie  de 
Lenoncourt,  Marquise  de  Courcelles — Practical  jokes  played  by  the 
marchioness  and  Hortense  upon  the  nuns — The  "  penitents  "  trans- 
ferred to  the  Abbey  of  Chelles — Unsuccessful  attempt  of  M.  de 
Mazarin  to  seize  his  wife — The  Cour  des  Enquetes  orders  the 
duchess  to  be  set  at  liberty — M.  de  Mazarin  appeals  to  the  Grande 
Chambre — Hortense  leaves  Paris  and  flies  to  Lorraine — Disgrace  of 
her  lover,  the  Chevalier  de  Rohan — Madame  de  Mazarin  arrives  at 
Milan. 

"C^AR  less  happy  in  her  married  life  than  her  youngest 
sister  was  Hortense,  though  never  did  any  one 
embark  upon  it  under  apparently  more  favourable 
auspices.  Nature  and  Fortune  had  lavished  upon  her 
their  richest  gifts.  She  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
women  of  her  time. 

Hortense  eut  du  ciel  en  partage 
La  grace,  la  beaute,  I'esprit, 

sang  La  Fontaine.  She  had  inherited  the  bulk  of  her 
uncle's  vast  wealth,  and  had  for  her  residence  the  finest 
part  of  that  wonderful  Palais-Mazarin,  filled  with  price- 
less pictures  and  the  rarest  marbles,  and  which  surpassed 
the  Louvre  itself  in  the  richness  of  its  interior.  She 
was  a  duchess,  their  Majesty's  cousin,  courted  and 
adulated  by  all.  Finally,  she  was  married  to  a  man  who 
loved  her  passionately,  and  for  whom,  at  the  time  of  her 

261 


262  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

marriage  at  least,  she  appears  to  have  entertained  a  strong 
liking.  Her  life  ought,  then,  to  have  been  one  of  the 
happiest  ;  the  very  reverse  was  the  case. 

For  this  unfortunate  state  of  affairs  Hortense  herself 
was,  in  a  great  measure,  to  blame.  Her  coquetry,  in- 
curable frivolity,  foolishness,  and  complete  absence  of 
moral  sense,  were  not  calculated  to  please  even  the  most 
complacent  of  husbands;  but,  in  justice  to  her,  it  should 
be  added  that  even  a  paragon  of  virtue  would  have  found 
it  difficult  to  live  on  amicable  terms  with  the  Due  de 
Mazarin. 

Armand  de  la  Porte,  Due  de  Mazarin,  was  of  sin- 
gularly unprepossessing  countenance  ("  He  bore  on  his 
face  the  justification  of  his  wife's  conduct,"  wrote 
Madame  de  Sevigne)  ;  but,  in  other  respects,  he  seemed 
likely  to  make  an  excellent  husband.  His  life,  in  a  licen- 
tious age,  had  been  beyond  reproach  ;  he  was  well 
educated,  open-handed,  a  charming  companion,  and  dis- 
tinguished for  his  courtly  manners.  But  some  latent 
germ  of  insanity  there  must  have  been  lurking  in  his 
temperament,  which,  under  the  influence  of  conjugal 
jealousy  and  religious  fervour,  changed  him,  before  he 
had  been  married  many  months,^  into  one  of  the  most 
ridiculous  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  tyrannical  of 
husbands  to  be  met  with  outside  the  domain  of  fiction, 

1  Only  a  few  weeks  after  their  marriage,  a  very  compromising  note 
from  Hortense  to  the  Chevalier  de  Rohan  was  intercepted  by  M.  de 
Mazarin,  a  propos  of  which  we  find  Louis  XIV  writing  to  the  Bishop  of 

FrGius  * 

■^        '  "  FONTAINEBLEAU,   21    Jprtl  \66l. 

"  I  have  already  done  in  advance  all  that  you  tell  me  is  necessary.  I 
ought  to  be  very  displeased  at  what  has  occurred  ;  but  I  wish  to  hope  that 
the  person  of  whom  you  speak  will  conduct  herself  better  in  the  future 
than  she  has  in  the  past.  I  am  already  aware  of  all  the  scandal  that  there  has 
been,  and  I  confess  to  you  that  what  causes  me  the  most  pain,  is  the  thought 
that  a  person  who  bears  the  name  of  so  great  a  man  should  give  occasion 
for  every  one  to  laugh." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  263 

only  not  mad  enough  to  be  shut  up,  because  Louis  XIV 
found  his  inexhaustible  purse  too  convenient  to  borrow 
from.^ 

"  He  was  the  Alceste  of  good  morals,  but  the  devotees 
by  whom  he  was  surrounded  made  of  him  an  Orgon." 
He  threw  himself  into  the  most  extravagant  devotion  ; 
he  became  a  seer  of  visions,  a  dreamer  of  dreams.  One 
day,  he  spught  an  audience  of  the  King,  and  gravely 
told  him  that  he  had  been  informed  by  the  Angel 
Gabriel  that  some  terrible  misfortune  would  befall  his 
Majesty,  if  he  did  not  immediately  break  off  his  con- 
nection with  Louise  de  la  Valliere.^  He  conceived  the 
most  unheard  of  scruples,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  give 
practical  expression  to  them.  The  magnificent  collection 
of  statues  and  paintings  in  the  Palais- Mazarin  shocked 
his  views,  nor  did  he  content  himself,  like  TartufFe,  with 
throwing  his  handkerchief  over  the  Michelangelos  and 
Titians  which  offended  him  by  an  improper  nudity  ;  but, 
with  a  hammer  in  one  hand  and  a  paint-pot  in  the  other, 
made  a  tour  of  the  galleries,  demolishing  the  statues  and 
smearing  over  the  pictures. 

The  King,  hearing  of  what  was  going  on,  deputed 
Colbert  to  endeavour  to  stop  the  destruction,  and  one  can 
imagine  the  despair  of  Mazarin's  former  intendant,  who 
knew  almost  to  a  sol  what  the  offending  masterpieces  had 

1  Under  date  13  September  1661,  we  find  Louis  XIV  writing  to  the 
duke  :  "  My  Cousin,  after  having  caused  the  Surintendant  des  Finances 
(Fouquet)  to  be  arrested,  of  which  fact  you  are  aware,  I  am  in  need  of 
the  two  million  livres  which  you  offered  to  lend  me."  In  a  second  letter, 
the  King  thanks  M.  de  Mazarin  for  having  foreseen  his  request  by  des- 
patching a  gentleman,  etc.  Another  time,  his  Majesty  thanks  him  for  the 
present  he  has  made  him  of  a  superb  Spanish  horse  ;  and,  in  a  fourth  letter, 
dated  17  November,  1663,  expresses  his  thanks  for  the  assistance  he  has 
offered  towards  bringing  water  to  Versailles.  Letters  cited  by  Amedee 
Rence,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 

2  "Memoiresde  I'Abbe  de  Choisy." 


264  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

cost  his  patron,  at  the  sight  which  met  his  eyes  on  enter- 
ing the  galleries  and  finding  the  duke  in  the  midst  of  his 
operations.  His  remonstrances  were  ill  received;  but 
eventually  he  succeeded  in  prevailing  upon  the  madman 
to  desist,  though  not  before  the  collection  had  suffered 
severely  from  the  piety  of  its  owner.  Louis  XIV,  for 
the  reasons  of  which  we  have  already  spoken,  contented 
himself  with  mildly  expressing  his  regret  at  M.  de 
Mazarin's  proceedings.  Visiting  the  Louvre  one  day 
and  noticing  a  hammer,  he  remarked  to  Perrault :  "There 
is  the  weapon  which  M.  de  Mazarin  makes  so  much 
use  of." 

A  taste  for  lawsuits  was  another  of  this  nobleman's 
peculiarities  ;  he  is  said  to  have  had  three  hundred,  and 
to  have  lost  nearly  all  of  them.  "  I  am  very  pleased," 
he  observed,  "  for  actions  to  be  brought  against  me  in 
regard  to  the  possessions  which  I  have  received  from  the 
Cardinal.  I  believe  them  all  wrongly  acquired  ;  and 
when  I  have  a  judgment  given  in  my  favour,  I  regard  it 
as  a  title  to  the  property,  and  my  conscience  is  at  rest." 

"He  used  to  cast  lots  for  his  servants,"  says  Saint- 
Simon,  "  in  such  a  way  that  the  cook  became  his 
intendant  and  the  floor-scrubber  his  secretary.  The  lot 
according  to  him,  indicated  the  will  of  God."  The  same 
chronicler  relates  that  once,  when  a  fire  broke  out  at  one 
of  his  country-seats,  he  refused  to  allow  the  servants  to 
extinguish  it,  declaring  that  to  do  so  would  be  to  inter- 
fere with  the  intentions  of  the  Almighty. 

But  it  was  his  unfortunate  young  wife  who  had  to 
bear  the  brunt  of  his  vagaries.  If  we  are  to  believe  only 
half  of  what  she  tells  us  in  her  "Memoires,"  he  must  have 
led  her  a  truly  terrible  life.  He  began  by  conceiving  a 
violent  jealousy  of  the  attentions  paid  her  by  the  King, 
and,  in  order  to  shield  her  from  this  supposed  danger. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  265 

kept  her  in  a  state  of  perpetual  locomotion.  "  As  he 
feared  for  me  to  remain  in  Paris,"  she  writes,  "  he  con- 
tinually marched  me  about  to  his  estates  and  govern- 
ments. During  the  first  three  or  four  years  of  our 
marriage,  I  made  three  or  four  journeys  into  Alsace  and 
as  many  into  Brittany,  besides  several  others  to  Nevers, 
Maine,  Bourbon,  Sedan,  and  other  places.  He  has  often 
made  me  undertake  a  journey  of  two  hundred  leagues 
when  I  was  enceinte  and  very  near  my  confinement. 
My  relations  and  friends  were  apprehensive  of  the 
dangers  to  which  he  exposed  my  health,  and  endeavoured 
to  make  him  sensible  of  them,  but  for  a  long  time  in 
vain."^  These  continual  journeys,  however,  were,  after 
all,  only  a  small  part  of  what  the  lady  had  to  suffer  at 
his  hands,  and,  "as  she  had  no  greater  pleasure  than  that 
of  seeing  him,"  she  assures  us  that  she  might  have 
endured  them,  had  it  not  been  for  the  tyranny  of  his 
proceedings.  He  was  jealous  of  every  one  who  addressed 
or  approached  her,  high  or  low,  man  or  woman.  "  I 
could  not  speak  to  a  servant,  but  he  was  dismissed  the 
next  day.  1  could  not  receive  two  visits  in  succession 
from  the  same  man,  but  he  was  forbidden  the  house.  If 
I  showed  any  preference  for  one  of  my  maids,  she  was  at 
once  taken  away  from  me.  He  would  have  liked  me  to 
see  no  one  in  the  world,  except  himself.  Above  all,  he 
could  not  endure  that  I  should  see  either  his  relations  or 
my  own — the  latter,  because  they  had  begun  to  take  my 
part,  his  own,  because  they  no  more  approved  of  his 
conduct  than  did  mine." 

He  would  not  even  suffer  her  to  sleep  in  peace.  "  No 
sooner  were  the  beautiful  eyes  of  his  companion  closed," 
says  the  duchess's  friend  Saint-Evremond,  "  than  this 
amiable  husband,  to  whose  black  imagination  the  devil 

1  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


266  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

was  always  present,  awoke  her  to  make  her  share  his 
nocturnal  visions.  They  lighted  torches,  they  searched 
everywhere ;  but  the  only  devil  whom  Madame  de 
Mazarin  found  was  the  one  who  was  with  her  in  bed."^ 

He  found  fault  with  everything  she  did.  "  The 
innocence  of  my  recreations  occasioned  him  as  much 
annoyance  as  if  they  had  been  criminal.  Sometimes  he 
said  it  was  a  sin  to  play  with  my  servants  at  cock-all. 
At  other  times  he  said  it  was  a  heinous  crime  to  go  to 
bed  late.  He  often  declared  that  one  could  not  in  con- 
science go  to  Court,  and  much  less  to  the  play  ;  some- 
times my  devotions  were  too  short.  In  fine,  his  peevish- 
ness upon  my  account  was  such  that  I  verily  believe,  if 
any  one  had  seriously  asked  him  how  and  in  what  manner 
he  desired  me  to  live,  he  would  not  have  been  able  to 
agree  with  himself  about  the  matter."^ 

Hortense,  according  to  her  own  account,  bore  her  hus- 
band's eccentricities  with  the  most  exemplary  patience  ; 
but  when,  "  not  content  with  making  her  pass  the  best 
years  of  her  life  in  unparalleled  slavery,"  the  duke  began 
to  squander  her  property  in  all  directions,  and  "  she  saw 
that,  by  his  incredible  profuseness,  her  son,  who  might 
have  been  the  richest  gentleman  in  France,  was  in 
danger  of  becoming  the  poorest,"  her  fortitude  was 
exhausted.  The  crisis  came  when,  on  returning  home 
one  night  from  some  Court  function,  she  found  that  her 
husband  had  taken  advantage  of  her  absence  to  seize 
upon  her  jewellery.  She  demanded  the  reason  of  his 
conduct,  and  was  told  that  she  was  of  such  a  liberal  and 
generous   disposition  that  he  feared   that,  if  she  were 

1  Saint-Evremond  relates  several  other  instances  of  M.  de  Mazarin's 
eccentricities,  and  accuses  him  of  abominable  vices,  for  which,  he  says,  he 
was  wont  to  declare  that  he  had  found  justification  in  Holy  Scripture. 
Saint-Evremond,  however,  was  not,  in  this  case,  an  impartial  witness. 

2  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  267 

allowed  to  retain  possession  of  her  jewels,  she  might  be 
tempted  to  give  some  of  them  away,  and  that  he,  therefore, 
considered  it  advisable  to  take  them  into  his  own  keeping. 
Hortense  angrily  insisted  on  their  immediate  restora- 
tion ;  and,  on  the  duke's  refusal,  left  the  room  and  went 
to  consult  her  brother,  the  Due  de  Nevers,  whose  hotel, 
as  we  have  mentioned,  adjoined  the  Palais-Mazarin,  of 
which  it  had  originally  formed  part.  Here  she  found 
the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon,  who  told  her  that  "  she  was 
well  served,  since  she  had  suffered  so  much  already  with- 
out complaint,"  and  despatched  a  Madame  de  Balenzane, 
who  happened  to^  be  with  her,  to  remonstrate  with  M. 
de  Mazarin.  The  duke,  however,  refused  to  see  her,  pre- 
sumably being  of  opinion  that  to  receive  a  visit  from  a 
lady  at  so  late  an  hour  would  be  a  highly  improper  pro- 
ceeding, and  sent  word  that  he  intended  leaving  for 
Saint-Germain  on  the  morrow. 

Hortense  spent  the  night  at  the  Hotel  de  Bouillon, 
where,  next  morning,  a  family  council  was  held,  which 
deputed  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  to  bring  the  matter 
to  the  notice  of  the  King.  Louis  XIV,  unwilling  to 
offend  so  useful  a  friend  as  the  Due  de  Mazarin,  sug- 
gested a  temporary  separation  between  the  parties,  and 
Hortense  accordingly  went  to  the  Hotel  de  Soissons, 
where  she  remained  for  two  months.  At  the  end  of 
that  time,  the  King  ordered  her  to  return  to  her  hus- 
band, and  she  was  obliged  to  obey,  though  her  jewels 
remained  in  M.  de  Mazarin's  possession,  and  the  only 
concession  she  was  able  to  obtain  was  the  dismissal  of 
some  waiting-women  whom  the  duke  had  placed  about 
her  for  the  purpose  of  spying  upon  her  actions. 

Scarcely,  however,  had  the  duchess  set  foot  in  the 
Palais-Mazarin  than  she  had  a  new  and  violent  quarrel 
with  her  husband,  due,  she  tells  us,  to  the  duke  having 


268  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

retaliated  for  the  dismissal  of  his  spies  by  getting  rid  of 
one  of  her  most  trusted  attendants.  She  attempted  to 
escape  from  the  house;  M.  de  Mazarin  hurried  forward 
to  bar  her  passage,  but  she  brushed  past  him  and  ran 
into  the  courtyard.  The  duke  rushed  to  a  window  and 
shouted  to  the  servants  to  shut  the  gate,  but,  "  seeing 
her  in  tears,  no  one  dared  to  obey,"  and,  hastening  into 
the  street,  where  a  crowd  of  people,  attracted  by  the 
uproar,  had  assembled,  she  made  her  way  to  the  Hotel 
de  Nevers. 

After  a  few  days,  the  family  again  intervened,  and 
a  reconciliation  was  effected.  It  did  not  last  long,  how- 
ever, and,  after  more  grotesque  scenes,  Hortense  con- 
sented to  retire  to  the  Abbey  of  Chelles,  while  M.  de 
Mazarin  set  out  for  his  government  of  Alsace,  where  he 
was  at  war  with  the  intendant,  for  his  governments 
resembled  his  household.  Finding,  on  his  return,  that 
his  wife  was  enjoying  too  much  liberty  at  Chelles,  where 
the  abbess,  although  his  own  aunt,  had  warmly  espoused 
her  cause,  he  obtained  permission  from  the  King  to  re- 
move her  to  the  Couvent  des  Filles-de-Sainte-Marie, 
situated  near  the  Bastille. 

The  luckless  Hortense  would  no  doubt  have  in- 
finitely preferred  the  Bastille  itself  as  a  residence,  for 
the  convent  in  question  was  a  most  rigorous  institution. 
However,  she  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  there  a 
companion  in  misfortune  in  the  person  of  Sidonie  de 
Lenoncourt,  Marquise  de  Courcelles,  who  had  been 
incarcerated  there  for  somewhat  similar  reasons. 

The  history  of  Sidonie  de  Lenoncourt,  who  has  been 
termed  the  Manon  Lescaut  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, was  a  particularly  sad  one.  Heiress  of  a  wealthy 
and  noble  house,  she  had  been  very  carefully  brought 
up  at  the  Couvent  de  Saint-Loup,  at  Orleans,  of  which 


From  an  engraving  after  the  painiiii^  l.y  -Milliard 
ARMAXD   DE    LA   I'ORTE,    DUG    DE    MAZAKIN    ET   DE    LA   .>Lt-:iLLERAYE 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  269 

her  aunt  was  abbess.  However,  Colbert,  wishing  to 
enrich  and,  at  the  same  time,  ennoble  his  family,  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  marrying  her  to  his  brother,  and,  by 
order  of  the  King,  she  was  removed  from  the  convent 
and  brought  to  the  Hotel  de  Soissons,  to  receive  a  very 
different  education,  under  the  eve  of  the  Princesse  de 
Carignan,  Olympe  Mancini's  mother-in-law.  Here  the 
beautiful  and  innocent  young  girl  attracted  the  notice 
of  Louvois,  who  fell  madly  in  love  with  her.  As  the 
result  of  a  shameful  compact,  it  was  arranged  that  the 
Marquis  de  Courcelles,  a  needy  and  worthless  man, 
should  have  the  lady's  fortune,  while  Louvois  was  to  be 
granted  every  facility  for  pressing  his  dishonourable  suit. 
In  this  he  was  so  far  successful  that  Sidonie  consented 
to  become  his  mistress  ;  but  he  was  never  able  to  gain 
her  affection,  which  was  bestowed  on  the  Marquis  de 
Villeroi,  Madame  de  Soissons's  admirer.  To  this  suc- 
ceeded other  attachments,  and  her  unworthy  husband, 
who  had  only  been  waiting  his  opportunity  to  get  full 
control  of  her  fortune,  availed  himself  of  this  pretext 
to  have  her  shut  up  in  the  Couvent  des  Filles-de-Sainte- 
Marie. 

The  two  captives  naturally  became  sworn  friends,  and 
rumour  asserted  that  they  relieved  the  tedium  of  their 
existence  by  turning  the  convent  upside  down  and 
perpetrating  all  sorts  of  practical  jokes  on  their  unfor- 
tunate guardians,  though  Hortense,  in  her  "  Memoires," 
declares  that  they  were  shamefully  maligned.  "  As 
Madame  de  Courcelles  was  very  amiable  and  very 
entertaining,"  she  writes,  "  I  had  the  complacency  to 
join  with  her  in  some  pleasantries  which  she  played  upon 
the  nuns.  A  hundred  ridiculous  tales  about  this  were 
carried  to  the  King,  who  was  told  that  we  put  ink  in 
the  holy-water  basin  to  bespatter  the  good  ladies,  that 


270  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

we  ran  through  the  dormitories,  accompanied  by  a  pack 
of  dogs,  shouting  out  *  Tayaut !  Tayaut ! '  and  such- 
like things  ;  all  of  which  were  absurdly  false  or  grossly 
exaggerated.  For  example,  having  asked  for  some  water 
to  wash  our  feet,  the  nuns  disapproved  and  refused  our 
request,  just  as  if  we  were  there  to  observe  the  regula- 
tions. It  is  true  that  we  filled  a  large  coffer  which  stood 
in  our  dormitory  with  water,  and,  the  boards  of  the 
floor  being  very  loosely  joined  together,  the  water  which 
overflowed  leaked  through  this  wretched  floor  and 
wetted  the  beds  of  the  good  sisters.  This  accident  was 
talked  about  as  if  it  had  been  something  which  we 
had  done  of  design."^ 

However  that  may  be,  the  two  penitents  seem  to 
have  led  the  poor  daughters  of  Sainte- Marie  such  a 
life  that  they  petitioned  the  King  for  their  removal,  and, 
much  to  the  relief  of  all  parties,  the  ladies  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Abbey  of  Chelles,  with  whose  superior 
Hortense  had  contrived  to  ingratiate  herself  during  her 
former  residence  there.  This  change  was  by  no  means 
to  the  taste  of  M.  de  Mazarin,  who,  a  few  days  later, 
appeared  before  the  convent,  accompanied  by  a  troop 
of  cavalry  and  armed  with  an  authorisation  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  to  enter  and  seize  his  wife.  The 
abbess  refused  to  admit  him,  and  handed  the  keys  of 
the  convent  to  Hortense,  who  appeared  at  the  grill  and 
brandished  them  defiantly  in  the  face  of  her  discomfited 
lord.  M.  de  Mazarin  withdrew,  in  a  very  ill  humour, 
uttering  terrible  threats  ;  but,  the  following  morning, 
Hortense  espied  from^  her  window  a  large  body  of 
horse  advancing  towards  the  abbey.  Believing  that 
it  was  her  Bluebeard  returning  with  reinforcements 
and  his  friend  the  archbishop's  authority  to  force  an 
1  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  271 

entry,  she  was  overcome  with  fear  and  hid  herself  in 
the  chimney  of  her  room,  where  she  stuck  fast,  and 
was  nearly  suffocated  by  the  soot.  With  considerable 
difficulty  she  was  rescued,  to  find,  to  her  joy,  that  the 
horsemen  whose  appearance  had  so  alarmed  her  were 
a  party  of  friends,  headed  by  the  Due  and  Duchesse  de 
Bouillon  and  the  Comte  de  Soissons,  who,  having  learned 
of  M.  de  Mazarin's  proceedings,  were  hastening  to  her 
succour. 

In  the  meantime,  Hortense  had  brought  an  action 
against  her  husband  before  the  Cour  des  Enquetes  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris.  This  court,  "  composed,"  says  the 
duchess,  "  almost  exclusively  of  young  men,  not  one  of 
whom  but  was  eager  to  serve  me,"  decreed  that  she 
should  be  set  at  liberty  and  reinstated  in  the  Palais- 
Mazarin,  while  her  husband  was  to  reside  at  the  Arsenal, 
the  oflEicial  residence  of  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Artillery. 
The  duke,  however,  refused  to  accept  this  decree  and 
immediately  appealed  to  the  Grande  Chambre,  which, 
Hortense  tells  us,  being  composed  for  the  most  part  of 
elderly  counsellors,  would  be  naturally  more  inclined  to 
favour  the  husband  than  the  wife.  From  which  it  would 
appear  that  the  lady  had  not  a  very  high  opinion  of  the 
judges  of  her  time. 

Foreseeing  that  the  appeal  was  likely  to  go  against  her, 
the  duchess  resolved  to  await  the  decision  of  the  court 
with  her  sister,  the  Constabless  Colonna,  at  Rome.  Her 
brother,  the  Due  de  Nevers,  signified  his  approval  of  her 
resolution,  and  her  devoted  admirer,  the  Chevalier  de 
Rohan,^  promised  her  his  assistance.  Accordingly,  one 
night,  at  the  end  of  June  1668,  Hortense,  disguised  as 
a  man  and  accompanied  by  one  of  her  waiting-women, 

1  Louis  de  Rohan,  younger  son  of  Louis  VII,  Due  de  Rohan,  Prince 
de  Guemenee. 


272  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

similarly  attired,  and  an  equerry  of  the  chevalier  named 
Couberville,  left  Paris  on  horseback,  and  rode  without 
drawing  rein,  except  to  change  horses,  to  Nancy.  Here 
she  was  well  received  by  Charles  IV  of  Lorraine,  who, 
ever  the  slave  of  the  fair,  naturally  sympathised  with 
her  misfortunes,  and  gave  her  a  troop  of  his  guards  to 
escort  her  as  far  as  Geneva. 

A  few  hours  after  she  had  left  Paris,  M.  de  Mazarin 
was  informed  of  her  flight,  upon  which  he  rushed  off  to 
the  Louvre,  and,  although  it  was  then  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  insisted  on  awakening  the  King,  to  demand 
that  he  would  cause  the  duchess  to  be  pursued  and 
brought  back.  But  his  Majesty  declined  to  interfere, 
and  is  said  to  have  expressed  some  surprise  that  the 
Angel  Gabriel,  who  had  been  so  solicitous  concerning 
himself  and  La  Valliere,  should  have  omitted  to  warn  the 
duke  of  his  wife's  intentions. 

M.  de  Mazarin,  however,  derived  some  consolation 
from  the  fact  that  the  Grande  Chambre  shortly  after- 
wards passed  a  decree  authorising  him  to  apprehend 
his  wife  in  whatever  place  she  might  happen  to  be, 
encouraged  by  which  he  next  brought  an  action  against 
the  Due  de  Nevers  and  the  Chevalier  de  Rohan  as 
accomplices  of  her  flight.  In  this  he  failed,  but  Hortense, 
having  had  the  imprudence  to  write  a  very  tender  letter 
to  Rohan,  in  which  she  spoke  of  the  happiness  which 
would  follow  their  reunion,  it  was  intercepted  by  her 
husband  ;  and  Louis  XIV,  happening  to  be  in  one  of 
those  austere  moods  in  which  he  sought  to  atone  for  the 
laxity  of  his  own  morals  by  extreme  severity  towards 
other  backsliders,  deemed  it  his  duty  to  disgrace  the 
chevalier  and  deprive  him  of  all  his  offices.  The  un- 
fortunate Rohan,  already  overwhelmed  by  debt,  found 
himself  almost  ruined.     To  better  his  fortunes  he,  some 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  273 

years  later,  entered  into  treasonable  negotiations  with 
the  Dutch,  but  was  detected,  brought  to  trial,  and 
beheaded  in  front  of  the  Bastille,  on  27  November 
1674. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Hortense,  still  escorted  by  Couber- 
ville,  of  whom  we  shall  have  a  good  deal  to  say  presently, 
continued  her  flight,  crossed  the  Alps  in  safety,  and  at 
the  beginning  of  July  arrived  at  Milan,  where  she  found 
Marie  and  the  Constable,  who  had  travelled  thither  to 
meet  her. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Marie  and  the  Constable  Colonna — Happiness  of  their  early  married 
life — Eccentric  conduct  of  the  Constabless — Probable  explanation — 
Birth  of  a  son — A  sumptuous  bed — Birth  of  two  other  sons — Separa- 
tion di  letto  between  the  Constable  and  his  wife — Liaison  of  Colonna 
with  the  Marchesa  Paleotto — Arrival  of  the  Duchesse  de  Mazarin  in 
Italy — The  "  Chevalier  "  de  Couberville — Quarrel  between  the  Due 
de  Nevers  and  Hortense — Scene  between  Marie  and  Couberville — The 
"chevalier  "  is  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  a  fortress — Hortense  enters 
a  convent — An  embarrassing  situation — Escape  of  Madame  de  Mazarin 
from  the  convent — Her  lovers — She  returns  to  France  with  her 
brother — M.  de  Mazarin  endeavours  to  have  her  arrested  at  Nevers — 
Intervention  of  the  King — The  Duchess  accepts  a  pension  and  returns 
to  Italy. 

AND  what  of  Marie  during  the  seven  years  which  had 
passed  since  her  arrival  in  Italy  ? 
For  the  first  five  years  of  her  married  life,  Marie  had 
lived  very  happily  with  the  Constable.  Colonna,  who 
seems  to  have  fallen  passionately  in  love  with  his  wife  at 
first  sight,  proved  the  kindest  and  most  indulgent  of 
husbands.  He  allowed  her  the  fullest  liberty  to  live  h  la 
Fran^aise^  that  is  to  say,  to  visit  and  receive  whomever 
and  whenever  it  pleased  her,  to  the  great  displeasure  of 
the  Roman  nobles,  who  deemed  it  a  very  bad  example  for 
their  wives,  whom  they  kept  shut  up  in  their  palaces  and 
guarded  with  the  most  jealous  care.  He  overwhelmed 
her  with  attentions  and  presents,  anticipated  her  slightest 
wish,  and  was  perpetually  inventing  some  new  entertain- 
ment for  her  diversion.  Marie,  who  was  naturally  of 
an  affectionate  disposition,  did  not  long  remain  insensible 

274 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  275 

to  her  husband's  devotion  and  began  to  feel  for  him  the 
warmest  regard.  "  Although  Italian  customs  were  but 
little  to  my  taste,"  she  writes,  *'the  inclination  that  I 
had  begun  to  entertain  for  the  Constable  rendered  them 
more  endurable  to  me  ;  for,  to  be  brief,  he  neglected 
nothing  which  could  give  me  pleasure  ;  it  would  be 
impossible  to  describe  his  attentions  and  kindness,  and, 
finally,  1  may  say  that  I  am  the  one  whom  he  loved  the 
most  and  the  longest."  ^ 

Unhappily  for  Marie,  since  her  arrival  in  Italy,  she 
was  much  changed  from  the  girl  whom  we  have  seen  at 
the  Court  of  France.  Then,  it  is  true,  she  had  been 
headstrong  and  self-willed,  though,  perhaps,  not  more  so 
than  many  of  her  countrywomen.  Now,  however,  she 
gradually  began  to  develop  eccentricities  which  became 
a  source  of  grave  uneasiness  to  her  husband  and  those 
about  her.  In  the  autumn  of  1662,  she  became 
enceinte,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  Constable,  who  was 
intensely  anxious  for  an  heir.  Marie  was  no  less  anxious 
to  gratify  his  wish  ;  but,  instead  of  obeying  the  instruc- 
tions of  her  physicians  and  taking  the  precautions  usual 
in  such  circumstances,  she  indulged  in  all  kinds  of 
forbidden  amusements,  and  on  several  occasions,  in 
spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  her  husband,  insisted  on 
following  the  chase  and  remained  in  the  saddle  nearly 
the  entire  day.  The  result  was  a  miscarriage,  followed 
by  an  attack  of  fever,  and  it  was  some  weeks  ere  she  was 
able  to  leave  her  bed. 

"  The  conduct  of  the  Constabless  under  such  grave 
circumstances,"  writes  Lucien  Perey,  "would  be  im- 
possible to  explain,  if  one  did  not  trace  these  vagaries  to 
their  source.  In  our  opinion,  it  is  certain  that  the  brain- 
fever,  accompanied  by  convulsions,  by  which   she  was 

^  "  La  Verite  dans  son  jour." 


276  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

attacked  during  her  journey  to  Italy,  caused  brain- 
trouble,  of  which  she  kept  the  trace  all  her  life.  We 
do  not  mean  that  she  was  insane  in  the  fullest  extent  of 
the  word,  but  undoubtedly  her  mind  was  deranged  on 
some  points,  and  persons  at  her  house  remarked,  when 
observing  her  closely,  that  she  seemed  in  a  state  of  con- 
tinual uneasiness  and  agitation."^  The  most  common 
form  which  her  affection  took  was  an  inability  to  reside 
in  any  one  spot  for  more  than  a  few  weeks  at  a  time. 
Although  her  husband  was  required  to  pass  the  greater 
part  of  each  year  in  Rome,  she  wished  to  be  perpetually 
travelling,  no  matter  in  what  condition  of  health  she 
might  happen  to  be,  now  to  their  country-seats  at 
Marino  and  Sisterna,  now  to  Naples  or  Venice,  anon  to 
Milan  or  some  other  town,  at  which  she  had  no  sooner 
arrived  than  she  wished  to  be  on  the  move  again.  The 
Constable  was  so  devoted  to  his  wife  that  he  bore  the 
inconvenience  and  expense — for  he  invariably  insisted 
on  her  travelling  in  semi-royal  state — attendant  upon 
these  continual  peregrinations  without  murmuring.  But 
alas  !  this  feverish  restlessness  was  ere  long  to  be 
followed  by  other  and  graver  eccentricities,  which,  as  her 
biographer  suggests,  were  no  doubt  attributable  to  the 
effects  of  the  illness  which  had  so  nearly  cost  her  her  life 
at  Loretto. 

Nevertheless,  as  has  been  said,  the  first  years  of  her 
married  life  were  happy.  On  7  April  1664,  she  con- 
soled her  husband  for  his  previous  disappointment  by 
bearing  him  a  son,  who  was  named  Filippo,  and  bore  the 
title  of  Principe  di  Palliano.  Great  was  the  joy  of  the 
Constable  and  his  relatives  at  this  auspicious  event,  and 
Marie  found  herself  overwhelmed  with  costly  presents 
and  congratulations.  According  to  custom,  the  members 

1  "Une  Princesse  romaine  au  xvii''  siecle:  Marie  Mancini  Colonna." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  277 

of  the  Sacred  College  and  all  the  Roman  nobility  called 
at  the  Casa  Colonna  to  felicitate  the  princess,  and  were 
received  by  her  reclining  on  a  sumptuous  bed,  "  the 
novelty  no  less  than  the  magnificence  of  which  filled 
every  one  with  admiration."  "  It  was,"  she  writes,  "  a 
species  of  shell,  which  seemed  to  float  in  the  midst  of  a 
sea  artistically  represented,  and  which  served  as  its  foun- 
dation. The  posts  stood  on  the  cruppers  of  four  sea- 
horses, mounted  by  sirens,  so  admirably  sculptured  and 
with  their  material  so  brilliantly  gilded  that  they  seemed 
to  be  made  of  the  precious  metal  itself.  Ten  or  twelve 
little  Cupids  served  as  clasps  for  the  curtains,  which 
were  of  a  very  rich  golden  brocade  and  were  permitted 
to  hang  loosely,  so  as  not  to  conceal  anything  which 
deserved  to  be  seen  in  this  sumptuous  ornament."^ 

The  birth  of  Marie's  first  son  was  followed  by  that  of 
two  others,  baptized  respectively  Marco  Antonio  and 
Carlo,  whose  advent  was  welcomed  by  Lorenzo  Colonna 
with  scarcely  less  pleasure  than  he  had  shown  at  the 
birth  of  his  heir,  and  the  princess's  happiness  seemed  com- 
plete, when,  on  a  sudden,  she  announced  to  her  husband 
her  intention  to  live  no  longer  with  him  as  his  wife. 

Marie,  in  her  "  Memoires,"  written,  we  must  remem- 
ber, while  her  husband  was  still  alive,  gives  the  follow- 
ing reason  for  her  decision  : — 

"  But  having  given  birth  to  this  child  [her  third  son] 
to  the  apparent  danger  of  my  life,  I  took  a  resolution  to 
avoid  for  the  future  all  occasion  of  exposing  myself  to 
the  like  by  giving  birth  to  another.  The  Constable's 
consent  being  necessary  to  make  valid  a  resolution  of 
this  nature,  I  pressed  him  for  it  and  obtained  it,  and 
have  ever  since  found  him,  in  this  particular,  a  man  of 

his  word."  ^  1  «  L3  Verite  dans  son  jour." 

2   Ibid. 


278  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

The  scandal-loving  gazettes  of  the  time,  which  do  not 
fail  to  mention  the  separazione  di  km  between  the  Prince 
and  Princess  Colonna,  attribute  the  latter's  resolution  to 
a  more  unusual  cause,  namely,  to  the  prediction  of  an 
astrologer  (Marie,  like  her  father  and  mother,  and,  in 
a  lesser  degree,  the  Cardinal,  was  a  firm  believer  in 
astrology,  and  was  wont  to  attribute  all  her  troubles  to 
the  malign  influence  of  the  stars),^  who  had  predicted 
that  the  birth  of  a  fourth  child  would  be  followed  by 
her  own  death. 

The  real  reason,  however,  was  very  diflFerent.  It 
appears  that  shortly  after  her  third  son  was  born,  Marie 
received  an  anonymous  letter,  informing  her  that  the 
Constable  was  very  far  from  being  the  faithful  husband 
she  imagined  him  to  be,  and  that,  some  time  before,  he 
had  become  the  father  of  a  little  girl.  The  name  of  the 
mother  does  not  seem  to  be  known,  but  the  child  was 
brought  up  with  great  care  in  a  convent  at  Rome,  where 
she  died,  in  1750,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four.^ 

From  what  we  already  know  of  the  pride  and  violence 
of  Marie's  character,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  the  anger 
which  must  have  possessed  her  on  the  discovery  of  her 
husband's  infidelity.  The  idea  of  sharing  his  affection 
with  another  woman  was  intolerable  to  her,  and  she  im- 
mediately informed  him  that  henceforth  they  must  live 
as  friends  only.  Colonna,  who  adored  his  wife,  did 
not  acquiesce  at  all  readily  in  this  arrangement,  and  strove 
by  every  possible  argument  to  shake  her  resolution  ; 
but  Marie  was  inexorable. 

It  was  not  long  before  she  had  cause  to   regret  the 

^  Between  1670  and  1672,  Marie  published  three  curious  volumes, 
containing  a  number  of  strange  predictions,  anagrams  and  calculations 
based  on  the  influence  of  the  stars. 

2  Lucien  Perey,  "  Une  Princesse  romaine  au  xvii^  siecle :  Marie 
Mancini  Colonna." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  279 

hasty  decision  to  which  her  wounded  pride  had  urged  her, 
for  Colonna,  who  was  of  an  exceedingly  ardent  tempera- 
ment, "did  not  neglect  to  find  compensation  elsewhere  for 
what  our  agreement  had  caused  him  to  lose,"  and  Marie 
confesses  that  his  very  marked  attentions  to  a  certain 
Marchesa  Paleotto,  whom  they  met  at  Venice  during  the 
Carnival  of  1665,  occasioned  her  "a  secret  displeasure." 

However,  she  was  too  proud  to  allow  the  Constable 
to  perceive  her  feelings,  and  when  they  returned  to 
Rome,  the  lady  and  her  husband  accompanied  them,  and, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  prince,  installed  themselves  in  a 
vacant  suite  of  apartments  at  the  Casa  Colonna.  The 
complacent  husband  only  remained  in  Rome  a  short 
time,  "  for  the  sake  of  decorum,"  and  then  departed  for 
Ancona,  where  he  had  received  some  military  appoint- 
ment ;  but  the  Marchioness  stayed  on,  and  her  liaison 
with  the  Constable  was  soon  the  talk  of  Rome. 

The  relations  between  the  latter  and  Marie  were  ami- 
able, though  somewhat  distant.  Colonna  continued  to 
allow  his  wife  full  liberty  to  pass  her  time  as  she  felt 
disposed,  and  to  keep  open  house  for  her  friends  and 
foreign  visitors.  The  Roman  ladies  envied  her,  their 
husbands  blamed  her,  and  both  declared  themselves  con- 
vinced that  she  must  have  a  lover.  However,  they  were 
quite  unable  to  agree  as  to  the  identity  of  this  fortunate 
individual,  the  fact  being  that  Marie,  although  her 
desire  to  please  was  often  mistaken  for  coquetry,  was 
almost  unrivalled  in  the  difficult  art  of  keeping  adorers 
at  a  respectful  distance. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Hortense  arrived 
in  Italy. 

Marie  was,  of  course,  overjoyed  to  see  her  sister  once 
more.     "  The  affection  which  I  had  always  felt  for  her," 


28o  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

she  writes,  "made  me  undertake  the  journey  to  Milan 
with  incredible  pleasure,  and  I  neglected  nothing  to  in- 
duce the  Constable  to  make  it.  He,  on  his  side,  did 
everything  he  could  to  dissuade  me,  but  at  length, 
having  consented  with  the  air  of  one  who  does  some- 
thing for  which  he  has  an  extreme  repugnance,  we  set 
out,  in  the  month  of  July  1668,  accompanied  by  the 
Marchesa  Paleotto,  and  arrived  six  days  later  at  Milan, 
where  the  Marquis  Spinola  de  los  Balbases,  my  brother- 
in-law,  was  the  governor  par  interim.^'' 

To  Marie's  intense  disappointment,  Hortense,  "whose 
beauty  surpassed  all  imagination,  and  in  whom  one  dis- 
covered each  time  one  saw  her  new  charms,"  greeted  her 
somewhat  coldly,  and  rallied  the  Marchesa  Paleotto  and 
herself,  because  they  were  not  attired  in  obedience  to  the 
dictates  of  the  latest  Paris  mode,  for,  coming  from 
France,  "she  judged  people  only  by  their  exterior  and 
esteemed  them  only  in  proportion  to  their  being  well 
dressed."  Moreover,  she  appeared  to  have  conceived  a 
singular  dislike  to  society,  and  remained  in  the  apart- 
ments which  had  been  allotted  her  nearly  all  day, 
"  always  en  deshabille^  but  always  more  charming,"  seeing 
no  one  but  Marie  and  her  own  attendants.  The  reason 
she  gave  her  sister  for  thus  secluding  herself,  was  that  she 
was  suffering  from  an  injury  sustained  by  a  fall  from  her 
horse  while  crossing  the  Alps.  A  few  weeks  later,  how- 
ever, the  Due  de  Nevers  arrived  at  Milan,  and  soon  dis- 
covered the  real  cause  of  Madame  de  Mazarin's  taste  for 
solitude.  She  had,  it  transpired,  conceived  a  violent  fancy 
for  Couberville,  the  equerry  whom  the  Chevalier  de 
Rohan  had  given  her  to  escort  her  to  Italy,  and  who 
had  gained  such  ascendency  over  her  that  she  even 
denied  herself  to  her  brother  and  sister  when  he  hap- 
pened to  be  with  her.     Soon  this  affair  had  become  the 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  281 

talk  of  the  city,  and  people  made  ribald  verses  about  it, 
to  the  intense  mortification  of  the  duchess's  relatives, 
who  felt  compelled,  in  consequence,  to  cut  short  their 
visit  to  Milan  and  remove  to  Sienna. 

Here,  soon  after  their  arrival,  there  was  a  violent  dis- 
pute between  Hortense  and  the  Due  de  Nevers  on  the 
subject  of  Couberville.  This  worthy,  whom  the  duchess 
persisted  in  addressing  as  "  Monsieur  le  Chevalier," 
although  he  had  no  right  whatever  to  that  title,  was  so 
puffed  up  by  his  bonne  fortune  that  he  gave  himself  all  the 
airs  of  a  gentleman  of  quality,  and  treated  M.  de  Nevers 
as  if  he  were  that  nobleman's  equal.  The  duke  bitterly 
reproached  his  sister  with  her  conduct,  and  threatened  to 
throw  the  pretended  chevalier  out  of  the  window,  if  he 
did  not  speedily  mend  his  manners.  Hortense  flew  into 
a  passion,  and  angrily  denied  that  there  were  any  grounds 
whatever  for  the  supposition  of  the  duke,  who  there- 
upon left  Sienna  and  went  to  Venice. 

Soon  after  his  departure,  the  Colonnas  and  Madame 
de  Mazarin  returned  to  Rome  for  the  festival  of  All 
Saints'  Day.  But  Hortense  continued  to  show  the  same 
liking  for  solitude  as  she  had  evinced  at  Milan  and 
Sienna,  and  her  hosts  enjoyed  very  little  of  her  society. 
Marie  now  determined  to  interfere  in  her  turn,  and, 
after  vainly  remonstrating  with  her  sister,  sent  for 
Couberville  and  gave  him  a  piece  of  her  mind.  "This 
gentleman,  far  from  seeking  to  excuse  himself,"  she 
writes,  "answered  me  rather  impertinently,  and,  as  he 
spoke  of  my  brother  in  discourteous  and  far  from 
respectful  terms,  1  told  him  to  leave  the  room  immedi- 
ately, and  that  he  would  find  some  one  below  to  teach 
him  how  to  behave  himself,  and  to  have  for  persons  of 
my  brother's  quality  the  veneration  that  he  ought  to 
feel.    He  obeyed  and  quitted  the  room  in  a  great  anger." 


282  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Highly  indignant  at  the  way  in  which  her  lover  had 
been  treated,  Hortense  left  the  Casa  Colonna  and  went 
to  live  with  her  aunt,  Signora  Martinozzi,  where  she 
remained  for  some  weeks,  "shut  up  like  a  prisoner," 
amusing  herself  by  playing  the  guitar.  As  for  Couber- 
ville,  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  leave  Italy,  and  made  his 
way  to  Civita  Vecchia,  with  the  intention  of  embarking 
for  France.  Here,  however,  the  Constable  Colonna 
caused  him  to  be  arrested,  on  some  pretext,  and  im- 
prisoned in  a  fortress,  "  to  soften  his  haughty  temper." 
After  a  confinement  of  some  months,  he  was  released, 
through  the  intercession  of  Francesco  Rospigliosi,  the 
Pope's  nephew,  whom  Madame  de  Mazarin  had  contrived 
to  interest  in  his  favour,  and  disappears  from  our  history. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  Due  de  Mazarin,  learning  that 
his  wife  was  no  longer  under  the  protection  of  the 
Colonnas,  petitioned  the  Pope  to  have  her  sent  to  a  con- 
vent. Hortense,  however,  anticipated  him  by  retiring  to 
the  Convent  of  Campo-Marzo,  of  which  another  of  her 
aunts  was  the  superior,  and  where  she  could  reckon  on 
being  permitted  to  do  pretty  much  as  she  pleased.  She 
had  not  been  there  long,  however,  when  she  fell  into  *'  a 
state  of  profound  melancholy,"  and  confessed  to  Marie, 
who  visited  her  nearly  every  day,  that  an  interesting 
event,  in  which  M.  de  Mazarin  had  certainly  no  concern, 
was  pending.  The  situation  was  most  embarrassing,  as 
Hortense  could  not  leave  the  convent  without  the  con- 
sent of  her  husband  or  the  Pope  ;  and  they  were  at 
a  loss  what  to  do.  Eventually,  however,  Marie  solved 
the  problem  by  aiding  her  sister  to  escape  and  bearing 
her  off  in  her  coach,  before  the  eyes  of  the  indignant 
nuns,^  to  the   Palazzo   Mancini,    which    had    been    be- 

1  "  My  poor  old  aunt  [the  abbess],"  writes  Hortense,  "  took  the  matter 
so  much  to  heart  that  she  died  a  few  days  later,  of  the  grief  which  my 
escape  had  occasioned  her." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  283 

queathed  by  Mazarin  to  the  Due  de  Nevers,  though  their 
uncle,  Cardinal  Mancini,  was  at  present  residing  there. 

The  unfortunate  termination  to  her  affair  with 
M.  Couberville  does  not  appear  to  have  had  a  very- 
chastening  effect  upon  the  volatile  duchess,  who,  to  the 
mortification  of  her  friends,  declined  to  make  the  least 
attempt  to  conceal  her  condition,  went  frequently  into 
society,  and  "  appeared  extremely  pleased  with  herself." 
At  the  f^tes  which  followed  the  election  of  Cardinal 
Rospigliosi  (Clement  X)  as  Pope,  in  the  spring  of  1670, 
she  was  among  the  gayest  of  the  gay,  and  was  perpetually 
surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  adorers.  Among  those  whom 
she  most  favoured  was  a  certain  Jacques  de  Belbeuf, 
son  of  a  counsellor  of  the  Parliament  of  Normandy, 
a  handsome  young  man,  who  had  come  to  Rome  to  put 
the  finishing  touches  to  his  education.  Hortense  pre- 
sented him  with  her  portrait,  and  we  find  the  proud 
youth  writing  to  his  mother  as  follows  : — 

"  There  is  also  in  the  bag  I  have  spoken  of  a  little 
silver  box,  on  one  side  of  which  is  Madame  de  Mazarin's 
portrait  and  on  the  other  my  own.  As  the  said  lady  has 
been  pleased  to  give  it  me,  I  wish  to  place  it  by  the  side 
of  mine,  and  feel  obliged  to  keep  them  for  ever.  If  you 
desire  to  see  the  said  portrait,  and  even  to  show  it,  I  beg 
you  to  make  what  use  of  it  you  think  fit,  but  it  is  most 
important  not  to  let  it  out  of  your  keeping,  and  do  not 
allow  people  to  finger  it.  Also  be  careful  who  has  access 
to  it,  as  perhaps  persons  might  wish  to  copy  it,  which 
would  be  most  displeasing  to  me."  ^ 

Madame  de  Belbeuf  was  no  doubt  much  gratified  by  so 
striking  a  tribute  to  her  son's  fascinations.  Nowadays,  we 
are  inclined  to  think,  mothers  would  be  less  complacent. 

^  Letter  published  by  Amedee  Renee,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin."  The 
duchess's  portrait  is  still  in  the  possession  of  the  Belbeuf  family. 


284  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

The  handsome  young  Norman,  however,  was  not  the 
only  adorer  to  be  thus  honoured  by  the  duchess,  for  an 
Italian  correspondent  of  the  Gazette  (V Amsterdam  of 
April  1670,  informs  the  readers  of  that  journal  that 
"the  Constable  Colonna  had  just  had  to  reconcile  Don 
Dominico  Gusman  and  Don  Augustin  Chigi,  who  had 
quarrelled  over  a  portrait  of  Madame  de  Mazarin  which 
one  of  them  had  received,  and  were  about  to  settle  their 
differences  at  the  point  of  the  sword."  Nor  did  M.  de 
Belbeuf  long  retain  the  post  of  honour  in  the  lady's 
affection,  being  replaced  by  the  Marquis  del  Grille,  who, 
in  his  turn,  was  succeeded  by  the  Comte  de  Marsan, 
lately  arrived  in  Rome  with  his  brother,  the  notorious 
Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  whom  Madame  had  persuaded 
Louis  XIV  to  banish  from  France.  The  Marquis  del 
Grille,  to  whom  the  duchess  appears  to  have  been  under 
certain  financial  obligations,  did  not  accept  his  dismissal 
with  at  all  a  good  grace,  and  a  second  duel  was  with 
difficulty  prevented  by  the  efforts  of  Madame  de 
Mazarin's  relatives.  Altogether,  the  Constable  and 
Marie  must  have  found  the  fair  Hortense  a  pretty 
handful. 

In  the  autumn,  the  Due  de  Nevers,  who  had  been 
residing  in  Rome  since  the  previous  winter  and  was 
now  reconciled  to  his  sister,  set  out  for  France  to  marry 
the  beautiful  Diane  de  Thianges,  niece  of  Madame  de 
Montespan.  Hortense,  who  was  perhaps  beginning  to  find 
the  welcome  which  her  friends  had  at  first  extended  to 
her  growing  a  trifle  cold,  and  was  besides  in  need  of 
money — she  had  been,  she  tells  us,  "  reduced  to  pawn 
her  jewels  for  the  means  of  subsistence" — decided  to 
accompany  him  and  "throw  herself  at  M.  de  Mazarin's 
feet."  But  her  career  at  Rome,  rumours  of  which  had 
not  failed  to  reach  Paris,  had  been  scarcely  calculated  to 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  285 

promote  a  reconciliation,  and,  on  reaching  Nevers,  an 
official  of  the  Grande  Chambre  presented  himself  with  a 
warrant  for  her  arrest,  and  a  small  army,  composed  of 
M.  de  Mazarin's  guards  and  a  brigade  of  archers,  under 
the  command  of  the  Grand  Provost  of  the  Bourbonnais, 
wherewith  to  enforce  it.  The  municipal  authorities, 
however,  held  a  consultation,  as  the  result  of  which  they 
decided  to  take  the  duchess  under  their  protection,  and 
called  upon  the  citizens  to  defend  her.  Matters  now 
began  to  assume  a  very  serious  aspect,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  bloodshed  must  ensue,  when  a  courier  arrived  from 
the  King,  commanding  M.  de  Mazarin  to  sign  a  truce 
with  his  wife.  The  duke  obeyed,  weeping  with  rage, 
and  Hortense  continued  her  journey  to  Paris  unmolested. 

On  her  arrival,  she  had  an  audience  of  the  King,  in 
Madame  de  Montespan's  apartments.  His  Majesty 
received  her  very  graciously,  and  offered  to  order  M.  de 
Mazarin  to  pay  her  a  pension  of  twenty-four  thousand 
livres,  with  liberty  to  reside  in  Rome,  if  she  preferred 
exile  to  returning  to  her  husband.  An  income  of  twenty- 
four  thousand  livres  seemed  a  miserable  pittance  to  a 
woman  who  had  inherited  so  many  millions — ("  You 
will  spend  it  at  the  first  inn  you  stop  at,"  remarked  the 
Due  de  Lauzun  to  her.)  But  even  that  seemed  to  her 
preferable  to  a  tete-a-tete  with  M.  de  Mazarin,  and  she, 
accordingly,  answered  the  King  that  "  she  felt  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  her  to  return  to  M.  de  Mazarin, 
after  all  the  endeavours  he  had  made  to  ruin  her 
reputation,  and  that  she  accepted  the  pension  with  a 
humble  and  heartfelt  acknowledgment  of  his  Majesty's 
great  favour  therein."  ^ 

At  the  beginning  of  the  following  spring,  she  returned 
to  Rome,  after  an  absence  of  nine  months. 

^   "  Mcmoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin." 


CHAPTER    XV 

Estrangement  between  the  Constable  Colonna  and  his  wife — Growing 
desire  of  Marie  to  return  to  France — She  has  a  dangerous  illness — 
And  believes  herself  the  victim  of  an  attempt  at  poisoning — A  sus- 
picious letter — Marie  confides  her  fears  to  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine — 
They  urge  Monsieur  to  obtain  Louis  XIV 's  protection  for  the  Con- 
stabless — Recall  of  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine  to  France — He  informs 
the  King  of  the  danger  which  threatens  Marie — Louis  XIV  promises 
the  Constabless  an  asylum  in  France — Marie  persuades  the  Duchesse 
de  Mazarin  to  accompany  her — Flight  of  the  two  sisters — Their 
perilous  journey — Their  arrival  at  Marseilles. 

T70R  two  or  three  years  after  the  separation  di  letto 
"*■  between  Marie  and  the  Constable  Colonna,  of  which 
we  have  spoken  in  the  preceding  chapter,  their  relations 
appear  to  have  been  amicable  enough  ;  but  this  state  of 
affairs  did  not  last.  Whether  it  was  that  Colonna  had 
his  suspicions  that  what  was  denied  him  by  his  wife  was 
accorded  to  others — Marie  has  been  accused  by  some 
writers,  though  apparently  on  very  untrustworthy  evi- 
dence, of  tender  relations  with  both  Cardinal  Chigi  and 
the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine^ — or  that  he  was  beginning 
to  grow  weary  of  the  caprices  and  feverish  activity  which 
he  had  endured  cheerfully  enough  so  long  as  he  pos- 
sessed her  affection,  his  manner  towards  her  underwent 

1  If  we  are  to  place  any  faith  in  Marie's  apocryphal  memoirs,  already 
mentioned,  the  Constable  was  particularly  annoyed  by  a  report  that  his 
wife  had  posed  pour  rensemble  to  the  chevalier — who  was  by  way  of 
being  an  amateur  painter — one  day,  while  bathing  in  the  Tiber.  The  lady, 
the  writer  adds,  indignantly  repudiated  the  charge,  calling  her  waiting- 
women  to  witness  that  she  never  entered  the  river,  unless  attired  in  a 
robe  de  gaze  which  reached  to  her  heels. 

286 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  287 

a  change.  "We  passed  the  autumn  [of  1670]  in  the 
country  and  the  Carnival  at  the  Operas,"  writes  Marie, 
"but  with  less  satisfaction  to  me,  since,  for  some  time 
past,  I  had  remarked  that  the  Constable  had  no  longer 
for  me  the  same  kindness  and  affection  which  he  had 
hitherto  shown.  He  had  no  more  regard  for  or  con- 
fidence in  me  ;  he  rarely  addressed  me,  and,  if  he  did, 
it  was  in  a  way  which  made  me  prefer  his  silence  to  his 
words.  The  Principe  di  Sonnino  [the  Constable's 
brother,  formerly  known  as  the  Abbate  Colonna],  who 
by  his  kindness  has  often  appeased  the  secret  troubles 
of  his  family,  and  by  his  prudence  has  frequently  pre- 
vented them  from  being  made  public,  will  bear  witness 
to  what  I  had  to  endure." 

The  Principe  di  Sonnino  did  not,  however,  succeed, 
in  this  instance,  in  his  task  of  peacemaker,  or  even  in 
keeping  the  matter  secret,  and  all  Rome  was  soon  dis- 
cussing the  differences  between  the  Constable  and  his 
wife  ;  while  the  correspondents  of  the  scandal-loving 
gazettes  printed  in  Holland  spread  the  news  all  over 
Europe.^  The  Roman  ladies,  who  had  never  pardoned 
the  Constabless  for  enjoying  a  liberty  which  their  hus- 
bands denied  to  them,  and  had  often  been  wounded 
by  the  haughtiness  with  which  she  treated  them,  did 
not  fail  to  avenge  themselves  by  circulating  the  most 
scandalous  stories  about  both  parties  ;  the  wretched 
old  Archbishop  of  Amasia  was  continually  whispering 
malicious  innuendoes  regarding  the  Constable's  conduct 
into  his  niece's  ear,  adding  that  he  had  warned  her  from 
the  very  beginning  that  the  marriage  could  not  fail  to 

^  "  The  bad  feeling  which  exists  between  them  is  known  to  every  one. 
It  is  believed  that  his  Excellency  the  Marquis  d'Astorga,  Viceroy  of 
Naples,  will  discuss  the  matter  previous  to  his  departure  for  Naples,  and 
endeavour  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation"  (^Gazette  de  Ley  den,  22  De- 
cember   1670,  cited  by   Lucien   Perey). 


288  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

prove  an  unhappy  one  ;  and  the  breach  grew  wider  and 
wider. 

During  the  first  years  of  her  married  life,  the  love 
and  attentions  of  the  Constable  and  the  brilliant  posi- 
tion she  had  occupied  at  Rome  had  aided  Marie  in  her 
endeavours  to  forget  the  golden  dreams  of  her  youth, 
when  even  the  throne  of  France  had  not  seemed  too 
high  a  position  for  her  to  attain.  But  from  the  moment 
she  was  assured  of  her  husband's  infidelity,  the  ghosts  of 
the  past  refused  any  longer  to  be  laid,  and  now  that 
she  felt  that  she  had  lost  not  only  his  affection,  but  his 
esteem,  her  thoughts  turned  towards  France,  and  the 
prince  who  had  once  loved  her  so  dearly,  with  a  pas- 
sionate longing.  She  was,  of  course,  aware  that  her 
place  in  his  Majesty's  heart  had  long  since  been  given 
to  others,  and  that  its  present  occupant  was  one  of 
whom,  if  report  spoke  truly,  the  King  was  deeply 
enamoured.  But  when  she  recollected  his  intense 
chagrin  at  her  departure,  his  tender  adieux,  his  promise 
"  to  give  her  proofs  of  his  esteem  and  attachment 
wherever  she  might  be,"  his  anxious  solicitude  during 
her  illness  at  Loretto,  she  could  not  bring  herself  to 
believe  that  his  feelings  towards  her  could  have  changed 
so  far  as  not  to  assure  her  a  cordial  welcome  whenever 
she  might  choose  to  return  ;  and  soon  the  desire  to  see 
France  again  became  a  fixed  idea,  to  which  all  others 
were  subordinated. 

A  few  days  after  the  return  of  the  Duchesse  de 
Mazarin  to  Rome,  Marie  was  attacked  by  "  so  terrible  a 
colic,  that  had  its  violence  continued  a  little  longer,  it 
would  have  infallibly  made  an  end  of  her."  "  My  ill- 
ness," she  continues,  "  which  was  enough  to  move  the 
most  insensible  heart  to  compassion,  made  no  impression 
on  that  of  the  Constable,  at  least  in  appearance,  since  he 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  289 

listened  to  my  complaints  for  an  entire  night  with  the 
utmost  tranquillity." 

At  this  epoch,  the  crime  of  poisoning  was  still  ram- 
pant in  Italy,  as,  a  few  years  later,  it  became  in  France, 
though,  fortunately,  only  for  a  comparatively  brief 
period  and  over  a  limited  area,  and  every  one  took 
infinite  precautions  on  the  slightest  suspicion.  Rightly 
or  wrongly,  Marie  became  convinced  that  she  had  been 
the  victim  of  such  an  attempt,  and  that  her  husband  had 
been  its  instigator  ;  and  this  opinion  appears  to  have 
been  shared  by  several  of  her  friends.  How  far  her 
suspicions  were  justified  is  difficult  to  say  ;  but  since 
Colonna  had  obviously  become  weary  of  his  wife,  and 
was,  moreover,  a  man  of  a  peculiarly  vindictive  temper, 
who,  it  was  common  knowledge,  had  caused  more  than 
one  person  who  had  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  offend 
him  to  be  assassinated,^  they  ought  certainly  not  to  be 
dismissed  as  the  hallucinations  of  a  disordered  brain. 
An  incident  which  occurred  during  her  convalescence 
increased  her  fears. 

A  letter  addressed  to  the  Constable  was  intercepted  by 
Mor6na,  a  Moorish  waiting-maid  whom  Marie  had 
brought  with  her  from  France,  and  carried  by  her  to  her 
mistress.  Marie,  to  whose  character  nothing  was  more 
foreign  than  espionage  of  this  kind,  ordered  it  to  be 
forwarded  to  its  destination;  but  the  girl  begged  her  so 
hard  to  open  it  that  at  last,  though  very  reluctantly,  she 
consented.  The  letter  advised  Colonna  that  the  writer 
was  in  a  position  to  arrange  a  very  advantageous  match 

1  At  the  time  of  the  Constable's  death,  in  April  1689,  the  Due 
d'Estrees,  French  Ambassador  at  Rome,  wrote  to  Louis  XIV  :  "The 
Pope  has  shown  himself  extremely  grieved  at  the  death  of  the  Constable 
Colonna.  Notwithstanding  his  violence  and  his  irregularities,  and  even 
several  assassinations,  for  which  the  Pope  testified  so  much  horror  at  the 
beginning  of  his  pontificate,  he  had  become  a  kind  of  favourite." 

u 


290  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

for  him,  in  the  event  of  his  happening  to  become  a 
widower,  but  added  that,  unless  he  were  very  speedily 
able  to  avail  himself  of  the  offer,  the  hand  of  the  heiress 
in  question  would  be  bestowed  elsewhere. 

Deeming  the  letter  capable  of  only  one  interpretation, 
the  princess,  in  great  alarm,  sent  immediately  for  her 
friend  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  to  whom  she  confided 
all  her  fears.  The  chevalier,  grateful  to  Marie  for  the 
kindness  she  had  shown  his  brother  and  himself  during 
their  stay  in  Rome,  when  almost  every  door  had  been 
closed  against  them,  readily  promised  her  all  the  assist- 
ance in  his  power  ;  and  it  was  decided  that  both  of  them 
should  write  to  Monsieur,  to  acquaint  him  with  the 
situation  and  beg  him  to  secure  the  King's  protection 
for  the  Constabless. 

Monsieur^  who  had  always  been  much  attached  to 
Marie,  and  had  recently  presented  her,  through  the 
Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  with  "  a  hunting  equipage  which 
had  cost  a  thousand  pistoles,  ornamented  with  a  quantity 
of  the  most  beautiful  and  the  richest  ribbons  to  be  found 
in  Paris,"  lost  no  time  in  laying  the  two  letters  before 
Louis  XIV,  who,  on  learning  of  the  danger  which  was 
believed  to  threaten  his  former  inamorata,  appeared 
much  distressed.  He  refused,  however,  to  take  any 
definite  steps  in  the  matter  until  he  was  in  possession  of 
further  information,  which  he  promised  to  procure  with- 
out delay.  Soon  afterwards,  it  was  announced  that, 
through  the  intercession  of  the  Abbate  Oliva,  the 
General  of  the  Jesuits,  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine  and 
the  Comte  de  Marsan  had  been  pardoned  and  recalled 
to  Court. 

The  two  brothers  arrived  in  Paris  in  March  1672, 
and  the  chevalier  was  immediately  granted  an  audience 
of  the  King,  in  which  he  did  not  fail  to  depict  the  fears 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  291 

and  sufferings  of  Marie  in  the  most  vivid  colours ; 
declared  his  conviction  that  her  illness  of  the  previous 
year  had  not  been  due  to  natural  causes,  and  impressed 
upon  Louis  the  necessity  of  protecting  her  from  any 
further  attempts  upon  her  life. 

His  Majesty,  more  moved  than  he  cared  to  appear, 
inquired  what  measures  M.  de  Lorraine  recommended 
to  save  the  Constabless  from  the  perils  which  surrounded 
her  ;  to  which  the  chevalier  answered  that  the  only 
possible  means  of  assuring  her  safety  was  for  her  to  fly 
from  her  husband  and  seek  an  asylum  in  France. 

The  King  at  once  decided  to  follow  his  counsel, 
directed  him  to  assure  the  Constabless  of  his  protection 
and  support,  and  next  day  sent  a  letter  for  him  to  trans- 
mit to  Marie,  wherein  he  promised  her  a  passport  and 
an  escort  to  accompany  her  the  moment  she  set  foot 
in  France,  and  charged  her  to  inform  him  of  the  port  at 
which  it  was  her  intention  to  land. 

Marie's  joy  and  relief  on  receiving  the  King's  letter 
were  intense.  Since  the  departure  of  the  Chevalier  de 
Lorraine  and  his  brother  from  Rome,  the  relations  be- 
tween the  Constable  and  herself  had  become  more  strained 
than  ever,  and  the  former  now  made  so  little  effort  to 
conceal  the  aversion  and  contempt  he  had  begun  to  feel 
for  his  wife,  even  in  the  presence  of  her  relatives,  that 
the  Due  de  Nevers,  who  was,  as  usual,  spending  the 
winter  in  Rome,  warned  his  sister  to  be  very  cir- 
cumspect in  her  conduct,  since  otherwise  he  feared 
that  some  fine  day  she  might  find  herself  shut  up  in 
Palliano,  a  castle  belonging  to  the  Constable  on  the 
borders  of  the  Ecclesiastical  States  and  the  kingdom 
of  Naples. 

The  moment  she  was  assured  of  the  protection  of 
Louis   XIV,  Marie  hastened  to  make  her  preparations 


292  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

for  flight/  She  said  nothing,  however,  of  her  project 
to  the  Due  de  Nevers,  fearing  that  he  might  deem  it  his 
duty  to  inform  his  brother-in-law,  but  took  Hortense 
into  her  confidence  and  begged  her  to  accompany  her. 
The  duchess  tells  us  that  she  employed  every  conceiv- 
able argument  to  dissuade  her  sister,  but  to  no  purpose, 
"  for  the  same  stars,  or  their  influences,  which  drew  her 
into  Italy,  drew  her  into  France."  Finally,  she  yielded, 
because,  as  she  explains,  "  she  had  no  mind  to  remain  at 
Rome  without  her,  and  believed  that  she  might  be  able 
to  lessen  the  dangers  she  would  have  to  incur  by  sharing 
them  with  her."^ 

Under  cover  to  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  Marie 
now  wrote  to  Louis  XIV,  expressing  her  gratitude  for 
his  assurance  of  protection,  and  begging  him  to  send  to 
the  intendant  of  the  galleys  at  Marseilles  the  pass- 
ports and  the  necessary  papers  for  her  and  her  sister,  the 
latter  being  still  in  dread  of  the  pursuit  of  her  husband. 
She  also  requested  permission  to  take  up  her  residence 
in  Paris,  at  the  Hotel  de  Nevers,  with  her  brother,  who, 
she  had  no  doubt,  would  approve  of  her  flight,  although 
he  might  have  refused  to  connive  at  it. 

This  done,  she  despatched  Pelletier,  an  intelligent  and 
devoted  valet  de  chambre  in  the  service  of  the  Duchesse 

^  In  her  "Memoires,"  Marie  gives  the  following  reasons  for  her  flight. 
It  will  be  observed  that  she  only  hints  at  the  chief  cause  of  her  resolution, 
namely,  the  fear  that  her  life  was  in  danger :  "  The  violent  conduct  of  the 
Constable,  joined  to  the  aversion  I  entertained  for  Italian  customs,  and  for 
the  manner  of  life  at  Rome,  where  dissimulation  and  hatred  between 
families  are  more  in  vogue  than  at  other  Courts,  hastened  my  putting 
into  execution  the  design  I  had  formed  to  return  to  France,  the  place  of 
my  education,  the  residence  of  the  majority  of  my  relatives,  and  the 
centre  of  my  genius,  since  I  had  an  inclination  for  the  novelties  to  be 
found  there,  the  free  and  joyous  humour  of  the  people,  and  the  warlike  air 
and  brave  deportment  of  the  men,  rather  than  for  life  in  a  quiet  spot  and 
under  a  peaceable  Government." 

8  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazarin  " 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  293 

de  Mazarin,  to  Naples,  where  he  arranged  with  the  master 
of  a  felucca  which  lay  there  to  convey  them  to  France. 
It  was  agreed  that  the  felucca  should  proceed  to  Civita 
Vecchia,  and  that  the  fugitives  should  embark  there. 

On  learning  of  the  result  of  Pelletier's  mission,  the 
sisters  resolved  to  make  their  escape  without  loss  of 
time.  Marie  took  with  her  the  string  of  pearls,  for- 
merly the  property  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  which 
Louis  XIV  had  given  her  just  before  her  departure 
for  La  Rochelle,  a  little  valise  containing  some  clothes, 
and  about  700  pistoles.  The  remainder  of  her  jewellery, 
the  greater  part  of  which  were  presents  from  the  Con- 
stable and  his  relatives,  she  left  behind,  with  a  letter 
requesting  that  it  should  be  equally  divided  between  her 
three  sons.  Then,  on  29  May  1672,  taking  advantage 
of  the  absence  of  the  Constable,  who  had  gone  to  visit  a 
stud-farm  belonging  to  him  at  some  little  distance  from 
Rome,  and  was  not  expected  to  return  until  the  follow- 
ing day,  she  left  the  Casa  Colonna,  accompanied  by  her 
Moorish  waiting-maid  Morena,  and  proceeded  to  the 
Palazzo  Mancini.  Here  she  found  a  coach  in  readiness, 
at  the  door  of  which  was  Hortense,  with  whom  were  a 
waiting-woman  named  Nanon,  Pelletier,  and  a  footman. 

But  let  us  allow  Marie  to  give  her  own  account  of 
their  adventure  : — 

"  In  a  few  moments  we  entered  my  sister's  coach. 
On  leaving  the  house  we  cried  to  the  coachman,  '  To 
Frascati,'  in  order  to  deceive  a  throng  of  people  who 
were  at  the  gate  of  the  Palazzo  Mazarini.  But  when 
we  had  turned  the  corner  of  the  street,  Pelletier,  my 
sister's  valet  de  chambre,  who  had  arranged  for  the  felucca 
of  Naples  to  be  at  Civita  Vecchia,  ordered  the  coachman 
to  drive  straight  to  the  latter  place.  The  coachman 
obeyed,    and    we    arrived    on    the    outskirts    of  Civita 


294  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

Vecchia  as  night  closed  in.  Pelletier  had  arranged  with 
the  sailors  to  take  us  on  board  four  miles  from  the  port. 
We  sent  him  to  announce  our  coming,  after  the  foot- 
man, whom  we  had  despatched  for  that  purpose  and 
awaited  with  extreme  impatience,  had  failed  to  return. 

"  The  delay  occasioned  us  a  little  uneasiness.  How- 
ever, in  spite  of  all  our  anxiety  to  conceal  ourselves  and 
our  fears  of  being  overtaken,  Madame  de  Mazarin  and 
I  quitted  the  coach,  penetrated  into  a  very  thick  wood 
near  the  sea,  and  composed  ourselves  to  sleep,  which  we 
did  so  soundly  for  two  hours  that  Nanon,  my  sister's 
maid,  and  Morena,  who  was  with  me,  and  mounted 
guard  over  us,  were  astonished  to  the  last  degree  to  see 
us  sleeping  so  tranquilly. 

"  On  awakening,  towards  morning,  we  perceived  the 
'ualet  de  chambre^  who  told  us  that  he  had  failed  to  find 
the  vessel,  and  that  the  footman,  after  getting  intoxicated, 
had  remained  in  an  inn  to  sleep  off  the  effects  of  the 
wine  he  had  imbibed,  so  that  we  judged  it  expedient  to 
re-enter  the  coach  and  advance  a  little  further,  along  a 
by-path,  for  fear  of  being  overtaken,  if  we  were  pursued 
along  the  high  road.  But  our  horses  were  so  tired  that 
they  were  scarcely  able  to  stand,  which  caused  my  sister 
to  say  that  it  would  be  better  to  send  them  back  with  the 
coach  to  the  inn  opposite  Civita  Vecchia,  and  give  the 
coachman  orders  to  say,  if  any  one  came  in  search  of  us, 
that  he  had  seen  us  embark,  in  order  that  they  might  not 
pursue  us  further." 

After  having  proceeded  for  a  considerable  distance 
along  a  dusty  road  and  under  a  scorching  sun,  they  re- 
tired into  the  depths  of  a  wood  and  sent  Pelletier  once 
more  in  search  of  the  felucca,  telling  him  that,  in  the 
event  of  his  still  being  unable  to  find  that  elusive 
vessel,  he  must  charter  another. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  295 

"The  heat  of  the  sun,"  continues  Marie,  "which  had 
been  beating  on  our  heads  for  the  space  of  five  hours 
and  which  was  then  at  its  height,  a  fast  of  four-and- 
twenty  hours,  and  the  disappointment  of  hearing  no  news 
of  the  vessel,  threw  us  into  a  despair  which  made  me 
say  to  my  sister  that  I  wished  to  return,  and  that  it 
would  be  preferable  to  die  at  Rome,  in  whatever  manner 
I  must,  than  to  die  of  hunger  where  we  were.  But  my 
sister,  who  is  the  most  patient  and  the  most  cheerful 
woman  in  the  world,  encouraged  me  by  her  arguments, 
finally  adding  that,  if  in  the  course  of  the  next  half-hour 
we  received  no  favourable  news,  we  could  still  return. 
1  resolved  then  to  wait  for  that  time,  and  scarcely  had  a 
quarter  passed  when  we  heard  the  sound  of  a  horse 
approaching  at  full  gallop  in  our  direction.  Thereupon 
the  fear  of  being  overtaken,  joined  to  the  other  agitations 
of  my  mind,  threw  me  into  the  greatest  consternation 
conceivable.  But  my  sister,  who  had  at  that  moment 
two  pistols  in  her  hand,  perceiving  that  it  was  the  little 
La  Roche  (the  name  of  the  postilion,  who  had  gone  to 
look  for  the  vessel,  without  saying  anything  to  us  about 
it),  reassured  me  altogether,  and  my  sorrow  was  on  the 
instant  converted  into  joy  by  the  news  that  he  gave  us, 
which  was  that,  so  far  as  he  could  gather,  our  vessel  was 
awaiting  us  four  miles  from  the  place  in  which  we  were. 
He  forthwith  took  charge  of  our  valises,  which  were 
neither  heavy  nor  numerous.  Nevertheless,  we  walked 
in  front,  on  foot,  in  the  full  heat  of  the  sun  and  through 
a  flat  country,  in  which  we  saw  a  number  of  vipers 
gliding  about. 

"  The  indefatigable  Madame  de  Mazarin  constituted 
herself  our  advance  guard,  and  continued  to  walk  so 
fast  that,  to  keep  up  with  her,  I  was  forced  to  rest  from 
time  to  time.  Hunger,  thirst,  weariness,  and  the  heat  had 


296  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

deprived  me  of  strength  to  such  a  degree  that  I  was 
compelled  to  ask  a  man  who  was  engaged  in  ploughing 
to  carry  me  only  some  hundred  paces  towards  the  sea, 
telling  him  that  I  had  lost  my  people  while  out  hunting 
(my  sister  and  I  having  changed  our  clothes  in  the 
coach).  At  first,  he  refused,  but  when  I  added  some 
pistoles  to  my  request,  he  finally  allowed  himself  to  be 
persuaded.  He  then  lifted  me  up  in  his  arms,  and  in 
this  manner  I  joined  my  sister.  Almost  immediately 
afterwards,  Pelletier  arrived  and  told  us  that  he  had 
chartered  another  vessel  for  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
crowns,  but  that,  to  tell  the  truth,  he  did  not  like  the 
appearance  of  the  master  or  the  sailors,  who  looked  to 
him  thorough  rascals.  We  answered  that  Fortune  had 
decided  otherwise,  having  permitted  the  little  La  Roche 
to  find  the  first,  and  that  he  had  gone  to  meet  her. 

"  Pelletier  was  no  less  delighted  than  ourselves  at  this 
happy  adventure,  for  he  had  a  very  good  opinion  of  the 
master  of  the  latter  vessel.  At  length,  partly  on  foot, 
partly  with  the  assistance  of  the  labourer,  I  reached  the 
seashore,  where,  soon  afterwards,  our  maids  came  to 
rejoin  us  ;  but,  finding  neither  the  first  nor  the  second 
vessel,  and  seeing  our  hopes  so  cruelly  frustrated,  I 
abandoned  myself  to  despair.  My  sister  was  not  less 
disconsolate  than  myself  at  this  counter-stroke.  How- 
ever, she  concealed  her  anxiety  for  fear  of  augmenting 
mine.  The  only  recourse  we  had  in  this  predicament 
was,  after  throwing  ourselves  on  a  little  straw  that  we 
found  in  a  cabin,  to  send  Pelletier  a  second  time  to  look 
for  the  vessel,  the  while,  for  my  part,  I  begged  the 
labourer  to  go  and  procure  me  a  little  water. 

"At  the  end  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  Pelletier  re- 
turned, and,  with  a  troubled  air  and  in  a  very  frightened 
tone,  told  us  that  we  were  pursued,  and  that  we  were 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  297 

lost.  My  weakness  had  rendered  me  so  indifferent  that  1 
heard  this  intelligence  almost  without  emotion.  But 
my  sister,  pressing  him  to  tell  her  if  it  were  true,  and 
eventually  perceiving,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  assured 
her  of  it,  that  it  was  nothing,  told  him  angrily  to  speak 
seriously  ;  and  when  he  replied  that  it  was  not  the  case, 
and  that  he  had  intended  to  frighten  us  by  way  of 
pleasantry,  rebuked  him  sharply  and  told  him  that  he 
had  chosen  his  time  for  jesting  very  ill. 

"  We  then  made  our  way  to  the  place  where  the 
vessel  awaited  us,  and  where,  unfortunately,  we  found 
also  the  second,  the  master  and  the  sailors  of  which 
urged  us  strongly  to  enter  it.  But  Pelletier,  having 
given  me  a  more  favourable  account  of  the  master  of 
the  first,  I  promptly  entered  it,  without  paying  any 
attention  to  the  importunities  of  the  people  in  the 
other.  My  sister  and  our  maids  did  the  same,  but  had 
scarcely  done  so  when  the  other  crew  began  to  threaten 
us  and  to  endeavour  to  prevent  our  putting  out  to  sea, 
so  that  I  was  obliged  to  give  them  some  money  to  secure 
their  good-will  and  free  us  from  the  difficulty. 

"  I  was  scarcely  out  at  sea  than  I  began  to  feel  the 
effects  of  it,  and  yet  was  more  sensible  of  the  new  pro- 
position that  our  master  made  us  of  more  money  for 
our  passage  than  the  sum  he  had  agreed  to  accept  from 
our  valet  de  chambre.  He  grounded  his  demand  on  the 
danger  to  which  he  had  exposed  himself  in  serving  us. 
Pelletier,  who  did  not  want  for  courage,  was  enraged 
to  find  himself  deceived  in  the  good  opinion  of  our 
master,  who,  contrary  to  his  promise,  demanded  more 
than  was  his  due,  and,  in  great  wrath,  would  have  made 
him  stand  to  his  bargain.  But  the  master  had  force  on 
his  side,  and  to  his  arguments,  good  or  bad,  added  the 
threat  to  throw  us  overboard  or  set  us  ashore  on  some 


298  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

deserted  island,  so  that  I  ordered  Pelletier  to  desist,  and, 
by  adding  one  hundred  pistoles  to  the  sum  previously- 
agreed  upon,  silenced  the  master,  assuring  him  of  further 
recompense  on  his  landing  us  in  France,  which  he 
promised  to  do."  ^ 

In  the  meanwhile,  in  Rome,  the  greatest  excitement 
prevailed  at  both  the  Casa  Colonna  and  the  Palazzo 
Mancini.  When  night  fell,  and  the  two  ladies  did  not 
return,  their  respective  households  became  very  uneasy. 
When  morning  came,  and  there  were  still  no  signs  of 
the  absent  ones,  their  anxiety  gave  way  to  consternation, 
and  a  servant  on  horseback  was  despatched  to  inform 
the  Constable.  Colonna  at  once  returned  to  Rome,  and 
sent  off  mounted  messengers  in  all  directions  to  gather 
news  of  the  fugitives,  but  without  any  result.  Towards 
evening,  however,  Madame  de  Mazarin's  coachman 
arrived,  with  the  news  that  the  two  ladies  had  embarked 
on  a  ship  near  Civita  Vecchia,  upon  which  the  enraged 
Constable  despatched  a  courier  to  the  Marquis  d'Astorga, 
Governor  of  Naples,  begging  him  to  send  galleys  in 
pursuit  of  his  wife  in  the  direction  of  Marseilles,  a 
request  with  which  that  official  hastened  to  comply. 

The  Constable  did  not  doubt  that  the  fugitives  would 
make  for  France,  and  he  had  a  shrewd  suspicion  that 
Louis  XIV  was  a  consenting  party  to  his  wife's  escape, 
if  he  had  not  actually  instigated  it.  He  accordingly 
called  upon  the  French  Ambassador  to  the  Vatican, 
Cardinal  d'Estr^es,  who  professed  himself  greatly 
shocked  at  the  conduct  of  the  Constabless,  and  promised 
to  write  to  the  Bishop  of  Marseilles  and  to  Colbert, 
and  also,  at  Colonna's  special  request,  to  the  Queen,  to 
beg  her  Majesty  to  do  everything  possible  to  prevent 

1  "  l,a  Verite  dans  son  jour." 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  299 

the  lady  having  an  interview  with  the  King.^  Louis  XIV, 
it  should  be  mentioned,  was  then  with  the  army  in 
Holland  ;  but  the  Constable  was  well  aware  that  his 
wife,  in  her  present  temper,  would  be  quite  capable  of 
pursuing  him  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other. 

Let  us,  however,  leave  the  Constable,  fuming  with 
indignation,  and  return  to  the  adventurous  si  ters, 
voyaging  in  their  little  felucca,  at  the  mercy  of  a  :rew 
of  rascally  Neapolitans,  who  were  probably  only  de- 
terred from  throwing  them  overboard  and  seizing  on  all 
they  possessed  by  the  thought  of  the  reward  which  had 
been  promised  them  on  the  safe  arrival  of  their  passen- 
gers on  French  soil,  and  through  seas  swarming  with 
Turkish  corsairs. 

"We  had  the  wind  very  favourable  for  the  first  six 
hours,"  continues  Marie,  "  after  which  there  fell  a  great 
calm,  and  we  made  scarcely  any  progress.  At  sunrise 
we  sighted  a  brigantine,  and,  the  master  fearing  that  it 
was  a  Turkish  vessel,  we  headed  for  some  rocks  on  the 
coast  of  Tuscany,  where  he  pointed  out  to  us  a  place 
where  we  might  land  and  conceal  ourselves,  in  case  he 
were  attacked.  Then,  under  cover  of  the  same  rocks, 
he  proceeded  to  reconnoitre  the  vessel,  and,  having  finally 
inquired  and  learned  that  she  was  a  Genoese,  we  con- 
tinued our  voyage  in  the  same  calm  weather  so  far  as 
Monaco,  where  my  sister  was  much  incommoded  by  the 
sea,  which  became  so  rough  under  the  influence  of  a 

^  Cardinal  d'Estrees  also  wrote  to  Pomponne,  then  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs.  His  letter  is  interesting,  since  it  shows  that  in  well- 
informed  circles  Marie's  flight  was  attributed  to  its  true  cause  :  "  After 
the  thousand  conjectures  that  have  been  made  about  this  escape,  so  far  as 
regards  the  Constabless,  it  is  thought  that  the  most  probable  is  that  she 
was  in  dread  of  being  poisoned.  The  Constable  and  she  voluntarily 
ceaeed  to  live  together  as  husband  and  wife  three  years  since-" 


300  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

very  high  wind,  that  we  should  have  been  wrecked,  had 
not  our  master  been  so  skilful. 

"  As  we  were  unable  to  disembark  for  want  of  a  cer- 
tificate of  health,  having  come  from  Civita  Vecchia,  in 
the  environs  of  which  the  plague  then  was,  we  landed  at 
Monaco,  where  we  secured  false  ones,  which  we  made 
use  of  at  Ciotat,  our  master  being  unwilling  to  land  at 
Marseilles,  owing  to  some  differences  which  he  had  with 
the  people  of  that  port.  This  proved  a  rather  fortunate 
circumstance  for  us,  since  it  enabled  us  to  escape  the 
feluccas  and  galleys  which  the  Constable  had  sent  in 
pursuit  of  us,  and  which,  failing  to  find  us  at  sea,  by 
reason  of  the  unusual  course  which  our  master,  a  very 
shrewd  man,  had  kept,  made  for  Marseilles  and  the 
other  ports,  where  we  should  undoubtedly  have  been 
captured,  had  we  possessed  certificates  of  health  to  en- 
able us  to  land  there. 

*'  At  length,  after  a  voyage  of  nine  days,  we  arrived 
safely  at  Ciotat,  where,  having  rested  about  four  hours, 
we  mounted  some  horses  which  we  had  hired,  and, 
travelling  all  night,  reached  Marseilles  at  a  somewhat 
early  hour,  where  I  first  inquired  for  M.  Arnoux, 
intendant  of  the  galleys,  in  the  hope  that  he  would  have 
the  passport  for  me  which  I  had  requested  of  the  King, 
in  the  letter  I  had  written  his  Majesty  ere  leaving 
Rome." 

The  intendant  handed  the  Constabless  a  packet  con- 
taining the  passport  and  a  letter  from  Louis  XIV  for 
herself,  and  another  from  Pomponne,  the  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  to  the  Comte  de  Grignan,  Madame 
de  Sevigne's  son-in-law,  the  King's  lieutenant  in  Pro- 
vence, recommending  him  to  receive  the  lady  at  Aix  and 
give  her  all  the  assistance  she  might  require.  Armed 
with  these  papers,  Marie  returned  to  the  inn  where  she 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  301 

and  her  sister  had  put  up  and  went  to  bed,  exhausted 
with  fatigue,  to  be  speedily  awakened,  however,  to  hear 
that  a  certain  Meneghini,  or  Manechini,  a  swashbuck- 
ling gentleman  in  the  Constable's  service,  who  had  ap- 
parently arrived  by  one  of  the  galleys  which  had  been 
sent  in  pursuit  of  them,  desired  to  speak  with  her.  In 
great  alarm,  for  she  believed  that  Meneghini's  object 
was  to  carry  her  off  or  perhaps  assassinate  her,  the 
princess  despatched  a  messenger  to  inform  the  intendant, 
who  sent  some  of  his  guards  to  protect  her,  and  begged 
her  to  remove  to  his  own  house  for  greater  security. 
However,  Meneghini  had  come  with  pacific  intentions, 
his  orders  being  to  beg  her  to  return  to  Rome,  or  at 
least  to  postpone  the  continuance  of  her  journey  "  until 
the  arrival  of  a  suite  more  in  accordance  with  her  rank," 
both  of  which  propositions  the  lady  declined. 

The  sisters  spent  the  night  at  the  intendant's  house, 
"where  the  kind  reception  and  the  good  cheer  that  was 
provided  for  us,  and  the  comfortable  beds  we  found 
there,  repaired  in  some  degree  the  evils  we  had  suffered 
on  the  vessel."  On  the  morrow,  the  Comte  de  Grignan, 
to  whom  they  had  forwarded  the  letter  of  the  Minister 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  sent  an  escort  of  his  guards  to  con- 
duct them  to  Aix,  where  they  were  lodged  in  the  house 
of  a  M.  de  Mories,  a  gentleman  in  the  service  of  the 
Due  de  Nevers,  who  treated  them  "  in  the  most  mag- 
nificent and  most  obliging  manner  conceivable." 


CHAPTER    XVI 

Sensation  aroused  in  Paris  by  Marie's  adventure— The  Constable  Colonna 
writes  to  Louis  XIV — Marie  sends  the  valet  de  chambre  Pelletier 
with  a  letter  to  the  King — The  Constable  despatches  an  agent  to 
Paris — Hortense  goes  to  Turin  and  the  Constabless  to  Grenoble- — The 
Queen  forbids  Marie  to  continue  her  journey — Interview  between  the 
Due  de  Nevers  and  his  sister — Brief  of  Clement  X  to  Louis  XIV  on 
behalf  of  the  Constable — Letter  of  Maria  Theresa  to  the  King — Louis 
XIV  leaves  the  army  and  returns  to  France — Second  brief  of  the 
Pope — Embarrassing  position  of  the  King — He  advises  the  Con- 
stabless to  enter  a  convent — She  ignores  the  orders  of  the  Queen  and 
sets  out  for  Paris — The  King  sends  La  Gilbertiere  to  order  her  to 
return  to  Grenoble — Her  interview  with  the  Due  de  Crequi — Louis 
XIV  accedes  to  her  request  to  enter  the  Abbey  of  Lys  and  sends  her 
a  thousand  pistoles — Her  sojourn  at  Lys — Reply  of  the  King  to  the 
Pope's  brief — He  becomes  more  favourably  disposed  towards  the 
Constabless — Imprudent  letter  of  Marie  to  Colbert — Louis  XIV  sends 
her  to  the  Abbey  of  Avenay — She  is  permitted  to  reside  with  her 
brother  at  Nevers — She  resolves  to  go  to  Turin. 

nr^HE  news  of  the  arrival  of  our  two  heroines  in 
Provence  created  a  great  sensation  in  Paris,  and 
Madame  de  Sevign^,  to  whom  Madame  de  Grignan  did 
not  fail  to  send  early  intelligence  of  the  matter,  wrote 
to  her  daughter  : — 

"In  the  midst  of  our  chagrins,  the  description  that  you 
have  sent  me  of  Madame  de  Colonna  and  her  sister  is  a 
delightful  incident ;  it  is  an  admirable  picture.  The 
Comtesse  de  Soissons  and  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  are 
furious  against  these  madcaps,  and  say  that  they  ought 
to  be  shut  up  ;  they  declare  themselves  strongly  opposed 
to  this  strange  escapade.     It   is   not  thought  that  the 

302 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  303 

King  will  care  to  offend  the  Constable,  who  is  assuredly 
the  most  powerful  nobleman  in  Rome.  In  the  meanwhile, 
we  shall  see  them  arrive  like  Mile,  de  I'Etoile  :^  the 
comparison  is  excellent."* 

In  the  meantime,  the  Constable  Colonna  was  moving 
heaven  and  earth  to  recover  his  fugitive  wife.  He 
appealed  to  the  Pope  ;  he  enlisted  the  good  office  of  the 
Pope's  nephew,  Cardinal  Altieri,  who  governed  the  aged 
Clement  X  and  was  bitterly  antagonistic  to  Louis  XIV; 
he  sent  for  the  Due  de  Nevers,  who  was  at  Venice,  and 
extracted  from  him  a  promise  to  use  all  his  influence 
with  his  sister  to  induce  her  to  return  ;  and  he  wrote  to 
the  King  a  letter  in  which  he  characterized  the  charges 
which  his  wife  appeared  to  have  brought  against  him  as 
"  imaginary  pretexts  to  excuse  her  culpable  departure" ; 
dwelt  upon  the  dishonour  which  her  conduct  had  brought 
upon  him  and  his  House  ;  implored  his  Majesty  "  to 
make  use  of  his  lofty  wisdom  and  to  cut  the  thread  of 
scandal  greater  still  than  those  of  which  this  regrettable 
imprudence  had  already  been  the  cause,"  and  ended  by 
expressing  his  opinion  that,  "  thanks  to  his  authority 
and  his  great  wisdom,  his  Majesty  would  not  fail  to 
find  means  to  bring  back  Madame  to  a  sense  of  her 
duties,  and,  at  the  same  time,  deliver  him  [the  Constable] 
from  a  grief  as  painful  as  it  was  undeserved,  and  which 
occasioned  him  such  cruel  agitation  of  mind."^ 

Nor  did  he  neglect  other  means,  since  he  despatched 
one  Saint-Simon,  a  very  resourceful  individual  in  the 
service  of  his  friend  Cardinal  Altieri,  to  France,  with 
orders  to  endeavour  to  induce  the  Constabless  to  return 


1  One  of  the  characters  in  the  "  Roman  comique  "  of  Scarron. 

2  Letter  of  29  June  1672. 

8  Letter  of  21    June  1672,  Archives  des  Affaires   Etrang^res,  pub- 
lished by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Marie  Mancini  Colonna." 


304  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

to  Rome ;  and,  should  he  fail  in  this,  which  seemed  almost 
certain,  to  proceed  to  Paris  and  do  everything  possible 
to  persuade  the  King  that  a  guilty  passion  for  the 
Chevalier  de  Lorraine  was  the  true  motive  of  the  lady's 
appearance  in  France. 

On  her  side,  Marie,  foreseeing  the  influences  which 
would  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  King,  was  not  idle, 
and  lost  no  time  in  sending  the  faithful  Pelletier  to 
Holland,  where,  as  we  have  said,  Louis  XIV  then  was, 
with  a  letter  for  his  Majesty,  begging  him  to  grant  her 
permission  to  come  to  Paris.  Pelletier,  however,  was 
waylaid  by  a  troop  of  Italian  bandits,  who  attacked  him 
and  left  him  half-dead  by  the  roadside  ;  nor  was  it  until 
three  weeks  later  that  the  Constabless  learned  of  the  fate 
of  her  envoy,  and,  in  the  meantime,  suffered  torments  of 
anxiety  at  the  non-arrival  of  the  expected  reply.  There 
is  some  reason  to  believe  that  the  attack  upon  Pelletier 
had  been  instigated  by  Saint-Simon,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  Constabless  communicating  with  the  King.  About 
the  same  time,  news  arrived  that  Saint-Simon  had  reached 
Paris  and  had  appealed  to  the  Queen  and  the  Ministers, 
giving  out  that  he  was  authorised  to  speak  on  behalf  of 
the  Vatican,  in  virtue  of  his  connection  with  Cardinal 
Altieri.  Thereupon  Marie  quitted  Aix,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  proceeding  to  Paris,  accompanied  by  her  sister 
and  escorted  by  the  Chevalier  de  Mirabeau,  over  whom 
Hortense  appears  to  have  cast  her  spells,  and  some  of 
M.  de  Grignan's  guards  ;  but,  on  reaching  Pont-Saint- 
Esprit,  they  learned  that  the  Due  de  Mazarin's  chief 
myrmidon,  Polastron,  and  a  party  of  soldiers  were 
approaching  to  arrest  the  duchess,  against  whom  the 
decree  of  the  Grande  Chambre,  authorising  her  husband 
to  seize  her  person  wherever  he  might  find  her,  was  still 
in  force. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  305 

This  alarming  intelligence  obliged  them  to  quit  the 
high  road  and  seek  refuge  in  a  neighbouring  chateau,  and 
the  same  night  Hortense  took  the  road  for  Savoy,  whose 
ruler,  Charles  Emmanuel  II,  it  will  be  remembered,  had 
once  been  a  suitor  for  her  hand,  and  had  treated  her,  she 
tells  us,  with  so  much  courtesy  when  she  passed  through 
Turin  on  her  way  to  Italy  the  previous  year,  that  she  had 
resolved  to  take  up  her  residence  in  his  territories,  if 
ever  she  quitted  Rome.^ 

Madame  de  Mazarin's  reception  at  Turin  exceeded 
her  fondest  anticipations.  The  Duke,  delighted  to  see 
her,  not  only  promised  her  his  protection,  but  even  went 
so  far  as  to  offer  her  the  ducal  chateau  of  Chambery  as 
a  residence,  and  to  give  orders  for  it  to  be  immediately 
prepared  for  her  reception.  However,  she  only  remained, 
for  the  present,  a  very  short  time  in  Savoy,  as  on 
learning  that  Marie  was  awaiting  her  at  Grenoble,  she 
at  once  set  out  for  that  town.  During  her  journey 
through  Charles  Emmanuel's  territories,  every  imagin- 
able honour  was  paid  her,  and  the  various  officials 
received  orders  to  report  every  incident  of  her  progress 
to  their  sovereign. 

On  her  arrival  at  Grenoble,  Marie  had  been  very 
courteously  received  by  the  Due  de  Lesdigui^res,  the 
Governor  of  Dauphine,  who  begged  her  to  take  up  her 
quarters  at  his  hotel,  or,  if  she  preferred,  at  the  Arsenal, 
which  latter  offer  she  accepted.  But  alas  !  a  rather  un- 
pleasant surprise  was  in  store  for  her,  since,  three  days 
later,  she  received  a  letter  from  Maria  Theresa — whom 
Louis  XIV,  during  his  absence  in  Holland,  had  appointed 
Regent  of  the  kingdom — commanding  her,  *'in  the  most 
courteous  manner  conceivable,"  not  to  proceed  beyond 
the  place  where  her  Majesty's  letter  might  happen  to 
^  "  Memoires  de  la  Duchesse  de  Mazaiin." 


3o6  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

find  her,  and  adding  "  that  she  had  no  doubt  that  such 
was  the  intention  of  the  King." 

The  Constabless  had,  of  course,  no  alternative  but  to 
obey,  and  informed  the  royal  messenger  that  she  had  no 
intention  of  going  further,  and  would  render  implicit 
obedience  to  the  Queen's  commands.  Although  much 
annoyed  at  being  thus  prevented  from  continuing  her 
journey  to  Paris,  she  consoled  herself  by  the  reflection 
that  some  opposition  from  the  Queen  was,  after  all,  only 
to  be  expected,  and  that,  in  all  probability,  the  King's 
*'  intention  "  in  regard  to  her  was  very  different  from 
that  which  his  jealous  consort  chose  to  imagine.  But, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  the  opposition  of  Maria  Theresa 
did  not  stop  here. 

Madame  de  Mazarin  reached  Grenoble  a  few  days 
later,  and,  almost  immediately  afterwards,  the  Due  de 
Nevers  arrived  from  Italy.  Faithful  to  the  promise  he 
had  given  the  Constable  at  Rome,  he  urged  Marie  very 
strongly  to  return  to  her  husband,  pointing  out  the 
serious  obstacles  which  stood  in  the  way  of  her  being 
permitted  to  reside  in  France,  particularly  the  enmity  of 
the  Queen  and  Madame  de  Montespan,  whom  he  made 
no  doubt  were  both  equally  determined  to  keep  her  and 
the  King  apart.  He  expressed  his  conviction  that 
circumstances  would  be  too  strong  for  her,  and  that  the 
egotistical  monarch  would  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  her  to 
the  jealousy  of  his  wife  and  mistress  ;  while,  even  if  he 
declined  to  yield  to  their  importunities,  it  was  hardly 
possible  that  he  could  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  urgent 
representations  which  the  Vatican  would  be  certain  to 
make  on  behalf  of  the  Constable  Colonna.  Marie 
replied  that  she  had  not  taken  a  resolution  of  such 
importance  to  stop  half-way,  but  that  she  had  no  wish  to 
compromise  any  member  of  her  family.     To  which  her 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  307 

brother,  who  valued  his  own  peace  and  comfort  above 
all  things,  rejoined  that  he  entirely  declined  to  be  made 
a  party  to  her  escapade ;  and  they  separated  on  far  from 
cordial  terms. 

The  Due  de  Nevers  did  not  exaggerate  the  hostile 
influences  which  would  be  brought  to  bear  upon  Louis 
XIV.  The  Nuncio  at  the  French  Court  kept  Cardinal 
Altieri  fully  informed  of  all  that  was  happening  in  France, 
and,  on  learning  from  him  that  Pelletier,  now  recovered 
from  his  injuries,  had  passed  through  Paris,  on  his  way 
to  the  King  in  Holland,  the  Cardinal  despatched  to  his 
Majesty  a  brief  which  he  had  extracted  from  the  Pope, 
wherein  his  Holiness  informed  the  Most  Christian  King 
that  he  took  very  much  to  heart  the  affair  which  concerned 
his  beloved  son,  the  noble  Constable  Colonna,  and  that  it 
was  "  his  sincere  desire  that  his  Majesty  would  lend  a 
benevolent  ear  to  the  Constable's  representations  and 
assure  him  of  his  protection."  Altieri  himself  wrote  to 
the  King  in  more  precise  terms.  "  I  take  advantage  of 
the  brief  of  his  Holiness,"  he  writes,  *'  to  represent  also 
to  your  Majesty  my  grief  at  an  incident  so  prejudicial  to 
the  family  of  the  Constable,  and  to  beg  your  Majesty 
to  facilitate  the  reunion  of  the  fugitive  and  her  husband, 
by  his  royal  authority  and  by  every  means  which  may 
appear  opportune  to  his  lofty  wisdom." 

About  the  same  time  that  these  epistles  reached  him, 
Louis  XIV  received  a  letter  from  the  Queen  which 
would  appear  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  Constable's 
crafty  emissary  Saint-Simon,  wherein  she  assured  him 
that  the  fears  which  had  prompted  Marie  to  fly  from 
Rome  were  purely  imaginary,  and  that  her  true  motive 
in  wishing  to  establish  herself  in  France  was  to  enjoy 
the  society  of  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  about  whose 
conduct  in  the  affair  she  expressed  herself  very  strongly. 


3o8  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

She  insisted,  also,  on  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments, 
both  political  and  domestic,  which  the  open  protection 
which  his  Majesty  seemed  resolved  to  accord  the  lady 
must  inevitably  entail,  and  made  no  attempt  to  conceal 
the  anxiety  and  pain  which  the  presence  of  the  Constabless 
in  Paris  would  occasion  her. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  Madame  de  Montespan, 
who,  on  20  June  of  that  year,  had  presented  her 
royal  lover  with  a  third  pledge  of  her  affection  in  the 
shape  of  a  son  (afterwards  the  Comte  de  Vexin),  also 
wrote  to  his  Majesty  to  much  the  same  effect,  and  we 
can  well  believe  that  the  arguments  of  his  mistress 
would  have  at  least  as  much  influence  with  Louis  as 
those  of  the  Queen. 

However,  the  King  was  disinclined  to  take  any  further 
steps  in  so  delicate  a  matter  until  his  return  from  Hol- 
land, and  it  would  seem  that  Maria  Theresa  was  acting 
entirely  on  her  own  responsibility  when  she  sent  orders 
forbidding  Marie  to  continue  her  journey  to  Paris. 

Finding  that  his  demands  for  the  return  of  his  wife 
and  her  expulsion  from  France  did  not  seem  to  be  pro- 
ductive of  any  result,  the  Constable  Colonna's  suspicions 
that  there  was  a  secret  understanding  between  Marie  and 
Louis  XIV  gave  way  to  conviction,  upon  which  the  tone 
he  had  hitherto  adopted  underwent  a  complete  change, 
and  what  he  had  demanded  as  a  right  he  now  sought  as 
a  favour,  promising  that,  if  the  Court  of  France  would 
but  employ  its  good  offices  to  induce  the  princess  to 
return  to  Italy,  the  past  should  be  forgotten,  and  she 
should  be  treated  with  every  possible  consideration.  At 
the  same  time,  it  is  evident,  from  the  correspondence  of 
Cardinal  Altieri  with  the  Nuncio  in  Paris,  that  the 
Constable's  intentions  differed  very  widely  from  these 
professions,  and  that  he  was  fully  resolved,  when  once 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  309 

he  had  got  his  truant  wife  into  his  hands,  that  a  con- 
vent, either  in  Rome  or  in  some  other  part  of  Italy,  and 
not  the  Casa  Colonna,  should  be  her  residence. 

Towards  the  end  of  July,  Louis  XIV  quitted  the  army 
and  returned  to  Saint-Germain,  where  the  Court  then  was. 
The  Nuncio  at  once  pressed  for  an  answer  to  the  repre- 
sentations which  the  Vatican  had  made  on  behalf  of  its 
"beloved  son";  but  Le  Tellier,  to  whom  he  applied, 
answered  that  the  war  and  other  important  matters  had 
so  occupied  his  Majesty's  mind  that  he  as  yet  had  had 
no  leisure  to  attend  to  the  affair  in  question.  The 
Nuncio,  very  dissatisfied  with  this  evasive  reply,  there- 
upon resolved  to  have  recourse  to  a  second  papal  brief 
which  Altieri  had  sent  him,  with  instructions  not  to 
make  use  of  it,  unless  other  arguments  failed  ;  and 
accordingly  handed  it  to  Le  Tellier  to  transmit  to  the 
King.     It  was  as  follows  : — 

Pope  Clement  X  to  Louis  XIV, 

"  Very  dear  son  in  Christ,  greeting,  etc. 

"  It  is  with  great  sorrow  that  we  have  learned  of  the 
sudden  departure  of  our  dear  daughter  in  Jesus  Christ, 
the  noble  Constabless  Colonna,  since  we  are  animated  by 
the  kindliest  sentiments  towards  that  illustrious  family, 
and  all  matters  which  concern  it  affect  us  keenly.  Now, 
we  have  recently  learned  that  the  said  beloved  daughter 
in  Jesus  Christ  has  set  out  for  France,  which,  in  truth, 
occasions  us  a  lively  joy,  since  your  Majesty  will  act  in 
conformity  with  the  compassion  which  is  innate  in  him, 
in  employing  his  royal  authority  to  send  her  back  as 
speedily  as  possible  to  her  husband.  The  venerable 
brother  Francesco  (N),*  Archbishop  of  Florence,  will 
explain  our  intentions  more  fully  to  your  Majesty,  on 

^  The  Nuncio,  Francesco  Nerli. 


3IO  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

whom  we  confer,  in  the  meanwhile,  our  Apostolic  bene- 
diction. 

"Given  at  Rome,  the  XII  July  MDCLXXII,  the 
third  year  of  our  Pontificate."^ 

Beset,  on  one  side,  by  the  representations  of  the 
Constable  and  the  Holy  See,  and,  on  the  other,  by  the 
importunities  of  the  Queen  and  Madame  de  Montespan 
and  the  solicitations  of  Colbert  and  Louvois,  who,  aware 
of  Marie's  taste  for  politics,  were  terrified  at  the  prospect 
of  her  resuming  her  influence  over  the  King's  mind, 
Louis  XIV  found  himself  in  a  most  embarrassing  posi- 
tion. He  had  promised  his  old  love  his  protection,  and 
his  honour,  no  less  than  the  remains  of  the  affection  he 
had  once  entertained  for  her,  forbade  him  to  go  back  on 
his  word.  But,  even  if  the  fears  for  her  personal  safety 
which  had  prompted  her  to  take  refuge  In  France  were 
well  founded,  and  not  a  mere  figment  of  an  excited 
imagination  or  a  pretext  for  leaving  a  husband  whom 
she  disliked,  about  which  he  had  begun  to  have  some 
doubts,  the  security  she  sought  had  been  attained  so  soon 
as  she  had  set  foot  In  his  dominions,  and  by  no  means 
necessitated  her  residing  In  Paris.  To  permit  her  to  do 
this,  in  the  face  of  the  representations  of  the  Constable, 
the  Nuncio,  Cardinal  Altierl,  and  even  the  Pope,  would, 
he  felt,  be  a  most  Impolitic  step,  and  one  capable  of  a 
very  sinister  interpretation.  Moreover,  he  valued  his 
tranquillity  too  highly  to  hazard  It  lightly,  and  signs 
were  not  wanting  that  the  advent  of  the  Constabless  in 
Paris  would  be  the  signal  for  trouble  in  more  than  one 
quarter  of  the  Court.  He,  therefore,  resolved  to  adopt 
a  middle  course :  he  would  refuse  to  surrender  the  lady 
to  her  husband,  though  he  would   use  every  possible 

1  Published  by  Lucien  Percy,  "  Marie  Mancini  Colonna." 


After  the  painting  by  Mignard 

MARIE   MANCIXI   COI.ONXA,    PKIXCIPKSSA   DI    PALLIAXO 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  311 

persuasion  to  Induce  her  to  return  to  him ;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  he  would  set  his  face  sternly  against  her 
residing  in  Paris  or  approaching  the  Court. 

Meanwhile  the  Constabless,  at  Grenoble,  was  im- 
patiently awaiting  the  return  of  the  faithful  Pelletier 
with  the  King's  answer.  At  last,  the  letter  arrived,  and 
we  can  imagine  the  eagerness  with  which  she  took  it  and 
broke  the  seal.  But  a  bitter  disappointment  was  in  store 
for  her,  since,  instead  of  according  her  the  permission  to 
come  to  Paris  which  she  so  ardently  desired,  the  King 
advised  her  to  retire  to  a  convent,  "  in  order  to  close 
the  mouths  of  the  slanderers  who  were  placing  sinister 
interpretations  on  her  retirement  from  Rome." 

The  Constabless,  deeply  chagrined  at  the  contents  of 
the  letter,  so  very  different  from  the  kind  and  sym- 
pathetic one  she  had  received  at  Marseilles,  felt  con- 
vinced that,  by  some  means,  his  Majesty's  mind  had 
been  prejudiced  against  her.  She  had  been  expressly 
forbidden  to  proceed  beyond  Grenoble,  and  was,  more- 
over, short  of  money  ;  but  she  was  not  the  woman 
to  recoil  before  difficulties,  and,  believing  that  If  she 
could  only  obtain  an  audience  of  the  King,  all  might  yet 
be  well,  immediately  resolved  to  ignore  the  orders  of 
Maria  Theresa  and  set  out  for  Paris.  "  I  was  so  little 
satisfied  with  this  letter,"  she  writes,  "  that  I  determined 
to  go  straight  to  Paris  and  throw  myself  at  his 
Majesty's  feet,  and  communicated  my  intention  to  my 
sister.  We  started  in  a  litter,  without  saying  a  word 
about  our  journey  to  any  one,  from  fear  that  the 
governor  would  stop  us,  and  travelled  together  to 
Lyons,  where  we  separated,  she  to  return  to  Chambery, 
while  I  continued  my  journey  to  Paris,  accompanied  by 
a  courier  whom  I  had  known  at  Rome,  named  Marguien, 
a  trustworthy  and  intelligent  man,  whom  I  engaged  to 


312  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

come  with  me,  and  who  charged  himself  with  all  the 
expenses  of  the  journey.  I  travelled  post,  in  a  calechcy 
and  Morena  and  he  followed  on  horseback. 

On  arriving  at  Nevers,  the  Constabless  learned,  to  her 
dismay,  that  a  gentleman  had  forbidden  the  post,  in  the 
King's  name,  to  furnish  any  one  with  horses  without  his 
permission,  and  that  similar  orders  had  been  given  to  all 
the  postmasters  along  the  road  to  Paris.  She  was  also 
informed  that  the  gentleman  in  question,  a  certain  M.  de 
la  Gilbertiere,  was  awaiting  her  at  the  bridge  over  the 
Loire,  a  little  further  on,  and  entertained  no  doubt  that 
he  was  the  bearer  of  a  message  from  the  King,  for- 
bidding her  to  come  to  Paris.  However,  by  dint  of 
bribery  and  coaxing,  she  succeeded  in  obtaining  post- 
horses,  and,  by  making  a  detour  through  some  by-streets, 
escaped  the  King's  m^essenger  and  hastened  on  towards 
the  capital.  She  travelled  all  night,  and  at  such  speed  that 
her  carriage  was  twice  overturned ;  but  at  Montargis  her 
maid  Morena  was  taken  ill,  and  this  necessitated  a  delay, 
which  enabled  La  Gilbertiere,  who  had  been  following  in 
hot  pursuit,  to  come  up  with  them  at  Fontainebleau. 

La  Gilbertiere  lost  no  time  in  seeking  an  interview 
with  the  Constabless  and  communicating  to  her  his 
instructions.  "  He  desired  to  suggest  to  me,"  writes 
Marie,  "  that  my  wisest  course  would  be  to  return  to  the 
Constable,  as  in  France  matters  were  not  taking  a  very 
favourable  turn  for  me,  the  King  having  been  given  to 
understand  that  I  flattered  myself  that  I  possessed  great 
influence  over  his  mind.  To  this  he  added  that  the 
King  was  much  annoyed  at  having  accorded  me  his  pro- 
tection under  frivolous  pretexts,  and  for  reasons  which 
had  no  other  foundation  than  my  caprice  ;  and  he 
concluded  by  informing  me  that,  in  the  event  of  my 
being  resolved   not  to  return  to  my   home,   I   should 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  313 

go  back  to  Grenoble  and  enter  the  Abbey  of  Montfleuri. 
These  were  the  exact  terms  of  his  embassy. 

*'  I  replied  that  I  had  not  quitted  my  home  to  return 
there  so  soon  ;  that  frivolous  pretexts  had  not  caused  me 
to  take  this  resolution,  but  good  and  solid  reasons, 
which,  however,  I  could  and  would  explain  only  to  the 
King,  and  that  I  hoped  for  justice  from  him  ;  that,  pro- 
vided I  could  speak  to  him  once,  which  was  all  I 
demanded,  he  would  be  easily  disabused  of  all  the  bad 
impressions  that  had  been  given  him  of  me  ;  that  I  was 
very  far  from  flattering  myself  that  I  possessed  the  sup- 
posed empire  over  him  of  which  he  had  just  spoken  to  me ; 
that  I  possessed  neither  sufficient  merit  nor  sufficient 
capacity  to  take  any  part  whatever  in  the  management  of 
his  affairs  ;  that  all  I  asked  for  was  to  withdraw  to  Paris, 
and  that  I  limited  my  ambition  to  the  extent  of  a  cloister, 
where  I  begged  his  Majesty  to  suffer  me  to  dwell 
among  my  relatives,  as  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Tuscany 
and  the  Princesse  de  Chalais  were  at  present  living,  and 
as  had  a  thousand  other  ladies,  either  widows  or 
separated  from  their  husbands.  As  for  returning  to 
Grenoble,  I  found  myself  too  fatigued  to  undertake 
another  journey  ;  and,  besides,  I  awaited  his  Majesty's 
answer  in  regard  to  the  steps  I  should  take." 

So  saying,  she  turned  her  back  upon  the  King's 
emissary,  and  taking  up  a  guitar  which  stood  in  a  corner 
of  the  room,  began  to  play  upon  it,  as  a  signal  that  the 
interview  was  at  an  end.  Louis  XIV  had  refused  even 
to  grant  an  audience  to  the  woman  who,  twelve  years 
before,  had  reigned  at  his  Court  almost  like  a  queen. 
Her  disappointment  and  mortification  were  intense,  but 
she  derived  some  little  comfort  from  the  reflection  that 
La  Gilbertiere's  mission  must  be  the  work  of  Maria 
Theresa  rather  than  of  the  King. 


314  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

Some  days  later,  the  Constabless  received  a  visit  from 
the  Due  de  Crequi,  First  Gentleman  of  the  Chamber  to 
Louis  XIV,  whom  his  Majesty  had  sent  to  reply  to  the 
propositions  she  had  made  to  La  Gilberti^re.  The  duke 
found  her  lodged  in  a  wretched  auherge^  stretched  on  a 
pallet,  and  was  unable  to  prevent  himself  from  expressing 
his  compassion  at  a  spectacle  which  contrasted  so  strangely 
with  the  pomp  and  grandeur  of  the  Casa  Colonna  where 
he  had  last  seen  her.  The  princess,  however,  cut  short 
his  "  lamentations,"  by  begging  him  to  come  at  once  to 
the  point,  upon  which  he  told  her,  in  the  most  courteous 
terms  at  his  command,  that  the  King  did  not  wish  her 
to  enter  Paris  or  to  speak  to  him,  since  he  had  given  his 
word  to  the  Nuncio  and  the  Constable,  for  reasons  of 
which  she  could  not  be  ignorant,  that  he  would  not  do 
so,  and  that  her  only  alternative,  if  she  did  not  prefer  to 
return  to  Rome,  which  was  the  wisest  and  the  most 
honourable  course  to  take,  was  to  go  back  to  Grenoble. 

The  lady  rejoined  that  she  was  desolated  by  the  King's 
refusal  to  allow  her  the  honour  of  seeing  him  and  to 
enter  Paris  ;  but  that  she  felt  sure  that  he  was  too  kind- 
hearted  to  compel  her  to  make  the  return  journey  to 
Grenoble  in  the  state  in  which  she  then  was,  prostrated 
by  the  heat  and  the  rapidity  with  which  she  had  travelled 
thither,  and  accordingly  begged  him  to  permit  her  to 
enter  the  Abbey  of  Lys,  a  convent  situated  near  Melun, 
about  two  hours'  journey  from  Fontainebleau. 

M.  de  Crequi  suggested  that  she  should  write  a  note 
to  the  King  to  that  effect,  promising  to  deliver  it  imme- 
diately on  his  return.  He  kept  his  word,  and  the  follow- 
ing morning  one  of  the  royal  pages  arrived  at  Fontaine- 

1  This  wretched  auberge  seems  to  have  been  chosen  for  the  sake 
of  effect,  as  the  Duke  of  Modena,  who  had  a  palace  at  Fontainebleau, 
had  placed  it  at  her  disposal ;  but  the  offer  had  been  declined. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  315 

bleau,  bearing  the  permission  the  Constabless  had  re- 
quested, and  an  order  to  the  Abbess  of  Lys  to  receive 
her.  La  Gilbertiere,  who  had  arrived  at  the  same  time 
as  the  page,  was  charged  to  escort  her  to  the  convent. 

Soon  afterwards,  came  a  messenger  from  Colbert, 
bringing  her  "  two  purses  of  five  hundred  pistoles  each, 
on  behalf  of  the  King,  which  his  Majesty  had  given 
orders  to  send  her,  and  this  sum  he  continued  to  pay 
every  six  months  during  the  time  that  I  remained  under 
his  protection."^ 

The  Constabless  saw  in  these  attentions  of  the  King, 
and  particularly  in  the  permission  to  reside  at  Lys,  so 
near  to  Fontainebleau,  signs  of  a  disposition  on  his  part 
to  relax  the  severity  he  had  lately  shown  towards  her  ; 
and  she  was,  in  consequence,  extremely  mortified  at 
finding  on  her  arrival  at  Lys  that  she  was  to  be  treated 
like  a  prisoner  of  State,  that  she  was  to  be  kept  under 
the  strictest  surveillance,  and  that  no  one  was  to  be 
allowed  to  visit  or  communicate  with  her,  save  her 
sisters,  Mesdames  de  Soissons  and  de  Bouillon,  and 
their  husbands,  unless  by  special  permission. 

However,  the  abbess  and  the  nuns  showed  her  the 
greatest  consideration,  and  did  everything  possible  to 
mitigate  the  rigour  of  her  imprisonment.  Both  her 
sisters  came  to  see  her  and  overwhelmed  her  with 
presents  and  caresses,  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  who 
appears  to  have  forgotten  their  former  rivalry  in  her 
hatred  of  the  La  Vallieres  and  Montespans,  sending  her 
a  sumptuous  bed,  ornamented  with  tapestries,  and  other 
costly  articles  of  furniture,  to  relieve  the  bareness  of  her 

^  Madame  de  Scudery  wrote  to  Bussy-Rabutin  :  "  She  [the  Con- 
stabless] replied  playfully  to  M.  de  Crequi  that  she  had  often  heard  of 
people  who  gave  money  to  ladies  in  order  to  sec  them,  but  never  not  to  see 
them." 


3i6  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

cell.  However,  poor  Marie  was  very  far  from  happy, 
and  the  abbess,  who  had  received  instructions  from 
Colbert  to  furnish  him  with  the  minutest  details  con- 
cerning her  charge,  informs  the  Minister,  in  one  of  her 
letters,  that  the  Constabless  "  has  always  appeared  very 
gay  since  she  has  been  here,  but,  in  reality,  we  believe 
that  she  is  very  wretched."^ 

While  the  Constabless  was  fretting  behind  the  walls 
of  her  convent,  the  Nuncio  in  Paris  continued  to  press 
for  a  definite  answer  to  the  demands  which  Clement  X 
and  Cardinal  Altieri  had  addressed  to  Louis  XIV.  But 
the  King,  true  to  the  middle  course  which  he  had 
resolved  to  adopt,  showed  no  disposition  to  surrender 
the  lady  to  her  husband,  and  the  Nuncio  invariably  re- 
ceived the  same  assurance,  namely,  that,  while  the  King 
was  prepared  to  use  every  possible  persuasion  to  induce 
the  Constabless  to  return,  he  would  not  force  her  to  do 
so  or  even  refuse  her  an  asylum  in  his  dominions.  At 
length,  at  the  end  of  August,  Louis  XIV  decided  to 
return  a  positive  answer  to  the  representations  of  the 
Vatican,  and  wrote  Clement  X  a  very  cold  letter,  wherein 
he  presumed  that  "  his  Holiness  had  been  informed  by 
the  Nuncio  of  all  the  reasons  which  had  prevented  him 
replying  earlier  to  his  brief  of  22  June  touching  the 
retreat  of  the  Constabless  Colonna  into  his  realm,"  and 
that  "  his  Holiness  had  seen,  from  all  the  orders  that  he 
had  issued  relative  to  the  affair,  that  he  had  an  equal 
desire  with  his  Holiness  to  contribute  in  every  possible 
way  to  re-establish  that  confidence  which  had  at  first 
existed  between  two  persons  who  ought  to  be  so  closely 
united." 

1  Letter  of  27  August  1672,  published  by  Amedee  Renee,  "  Les 
Nieces  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  317 

After  this  very  plain  hint,  the  Vatican  declined  to 
take  any  further  steps  on  behalf  of  the  Constable,  and 
though  Colonna  called  upon  the  French  Ambassador  at 
Rome  to  protest  against  the  conduct  of  the  King,  he  got 
little  consolation  in  that  quarter,  and  the  Ambassador 
wrote  to  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  that  he  was  of 
opinion  that  the  Constable  was  more  moved  by  the 
scandal  which  his  wife's  flight  had  aroused  than  by  a 
sentiment  of  the  heart,  "  which,"  he  added,  "  is 
sufficiently  diverted  by  other  amusements."  Evidently, 
Cardinal  d'Estrees  was  quite  au  courani  with  the  gossip  of 
the  Eternal  City. 

It  would  appear  that  Louis  XIV  sympathised  far 
more  deeply  with  the  troubles  of  his  old  love  than  that 
lady  had  any  idea.  The  curt  messages  he  had  sent  her 
by  La  Gilberti^re  and  the  Due  de  Crequi  had  been  pro- 
voked by  her  unexpected  arrival  at  Fontainebleau  and 
her  evident  determination  to  ignore  the  wishes  he  had  ex- 
pressed in  the  letter  which  she  had  received  at  Grenoble. 
But  his  anger  did  not  last  long,  and,  on  the  return  of 
the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  from  her  visit  to  Lys,  the 
King  sent  for  her  to  ask  news  of  her  sister,  and  also 
requested  Colbert  to  submit  to  him  the  reports  which 
he  received  from  the  abbess  ;  and,  on  learning  how 
irksome  Marie  found  the  restraint  to  which  she  was 
subjected,  gave  orders  that  she  was  to  be  allowed  to 
take  walks  in  the  Forest  of  Fontainebleau,  though 
always  well  accompanied. 

The  Constabless,  however,  was  of  course  unaware 
of  the  more  favourable  disposition  of  his  Majesty 
towards  her,  or  of  the  reply  which  he  had  made  to 
the  demands  of  the  Vatican  for  her  surrender,  and,  as 
time  went  on,   she   became   more   and   more    incensed 


318  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

against  the  King,  who,  after  countenancing  her  flight, 
now  treated  it  as  a  crime,  and  had  transformed  the 
asylum  he  had  promised  her  into  a  prison.  An  incident 
which  occurred  towards  the  end  of  September  put  the 
finishing  touch  to  her  resentment. 

Colbert,  to  whom  Louis  had  entrusted  the  entire 
direction  of  the  princess's  affairs,  took  upon  himself  to 
inform  her  that  she  would  be  expected  to  defray  the 
cost  of  the  maintenance  of  herself  and  her  attendants 
at  the  convent  out  of  the  money  which  the  King  had 
sent  her  at  Fontainebleau.  As  the  Constabless  had 
already  expended  the  greater  part  of  that  sum  in  re- 
plenishing her  wardrobe  and  in  repaying  the  courier 
Marguien  for  the  money  he  had  disbursed  on  her  behalf 
during  the  journey  from  Grenoble,  she  was  extremely 
indignant,  and,  under  the  impression  that  the  order  had 
emanated  from  the  King  himself,  wrote  to  the  Minister 
"  a  very  imprudent  letter,  complaining  of  the  little  con- 
sideration that  his  Majesty  had  for  her,  to  which,  she 
added,  that,  since  he  was  unwilling  to  give  her  liberty 
to  go  to  Paris,  he  should  at  least  accord  her  that  of 
going  anywhere  else  she  might  wish."^ 

The  tone  of  this  letter  deeply  offended  the  King,  and 
the  enemies  of  the  Constabless  did  not  fail  to  profit  by 
the  occasion  to  persuade  him  that  she  was  too  near 
Paris,  and  that,  one  fine  day,  she  would  escape  and 
make  her  appearance  there.  Louis  XIV,  fearful  of  such 
an  event,  which  would  be  sure  to  provoke  a  grave 
scandal,  thereupon  directed  Colbert  to  inform  Marie, 
on  his  behalf,  that  she  must  choose  a  convent  sixty 
leagues  distant  from  Paris,  and  that,  after  the  letter  she 
had  just  written,  she  was  no  longer  deserving  of  his 
protection. 

^  "  La  Verite  dans  son  jour." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  319 

This  new  disgrace  threw  the  poor  lady  into  the  depths 
of  despair,  and  she  wrote  imploring  Colbert  to  inter- 
cede for  her  with  the  King  and  obtain  his  pardon,  pro- 
testing that  she  had  regretted  what  she  had  written  "  so 
soon  as  she  had  recovered  her  self-possession."  Colbert 
replied  that  his  Majesty  had  been  graciously  pleased 
to  accept  her  excuses,  but  that  he  persisted  in  his 
resolution  to  send  her  sixty  leagues  from  Paris,  and 
begged  her  to  notify  him  without  delay  what  convent 
she  had  selected.  The  Constabless  informed  the  Minis- 
ter that  she  would  repair  to  whatever  convent  his 
Majesty  might  be  pleased  to  name,  and  she  added  : 
"  Only  tell  the  King  that  I  ask  to  speak  to  him  once 
more  before  I  go.  That  will  be  for  the  last  time  in 
my  life,  and  I  shall  return  to  Paris  no  more.  Grant 
me  this  favour,  I  implore  you,  Monsieur,  and,  after 
that,  I  promise  him  that  1  will  go  even  further,  if  he 
desires  it,  being  always  very  disposed  to  obey  him." 

To  this  touching  letter  Louis  XIV  replied  himself, 
though  not  until  after  an  interval  of  several  days,  which 
leads  us  to  suppose  that  Colbert  very  probably  had  not 
deemed  it  advisable  to  show  it  him. 

Louis  XIF  to  the  Constabless  Colonna. 

"Versailles,  29  September  1672. 
"  My  Cousin, — Being  desirous  of  giving  you  a  con- 
venient abbey  to  which  you  may  retire  and  dwell  in  full 
security  during  the  time  you  remain  in  my  realm,  I  have 
found  that  the  one  most  likely  to  be  in  accordance  with 
your  wishes  is  that  of  Saint-Pierre,  of  my  town  of 
Rheims,  of  which  the  Dame  d'Orvel  is  abbess ;  and  for 
that  purpose,  so  soon  as  I  receive  your  final  response  to 
this  letter,  I  will  send  the  Sieur  Goberti^  to  conduct  you 

1  Presumably,  La  Gilbcrtii^re.  The  Abbess  of  I>ys,  in  a  letter  to 
Colbert,  speaks  of  him  as  La  Giberti. 


320  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

thither.     On  this,  I  pray  God  that  he  will  have  you,  my 
cousin,  in  his  holy  and  worthy  keeping."^ 

"And  that,"  writes  poor  Marie,  "  was  all  the  reply 
that  I  received  to  my  letter." 

Four  or  five  days  later,  La  Gilbertiere  arrived  with  a 
coach  and  an  order  to  the  Abbess  of  Lys  for  the  Con- 
stabless  to  leave  her  convent,  and  escorted  her,  together 
with  the  faithful  Morena  and  three  other  waiting- 
women — whom  the  Constable,  anxious,  in  spite  of  his 
indignation  against  his  wife,  that  she  should  maintain  a 
suite  in  accordance  with  her  rank,  had  sent  from  Rome 
— to  the  Abbey  of  Avenay,  three  leagues  from  Rheims 
and  thirty  from  Paris.  The  King  had  thus  diminished 
by  half  the  distance  of  her  exile. 

This  abbey,  which  had  been  chosen  by  Louis  XIV,  at 
the  last  moment,  In  place  of  that  mentioned  in  his  letter 
to  Marie,  was  a  noble  chapter,  which  served  as  a  retreat 
for  ladies  of  very  high  rank.  Its  superior  was  Madame 
Brulart  de  Sillery,  grand-daughter  of  Henri  IV's  Chan- 
cellor of  that  name,  who  "  received  her  with  every  mark 
of  esteem  and  kindness  that  it  was  possible  to  desire." 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  good  abbess,  the 
poor  lady  seems  to  have  been  profoundly  miserable,  as 
the  convent  was  too  far  from  Paris  to  permit  of  the 
visits  of  her  relatives,  and  there  was,  therefore,  nothing 
to  relieve  the  tedium  of  her  existence.  However,  after 
she  had  been  there  about  three  months,  she  received  a 
visit  from  her  brother,  the  Due  de  Nevers,  whom  she 
had  not  seen  since  they  parted  on  such  unfriendly  terms 
at  Grenoble.  Struck  by  his  sister's  melancholy,  the 
duke  judged   the   moment  favourable  to   make  a  last 

1  Bibliotheque  Nationale  MSS.  cited  by  Chantelauze,  "  Louis  XIV 
et  Marie  Mancini." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  321 

effort  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  between  her  and 
her  husband,  or,  failing  that,  to  induce  her  to  leave 
France,  and  accordingly  told  her  that  it  was  perfectly 
hopeless  for  her  to  expect  any  amelioration  of  her  lot 
so  long  as  she  remained  in  France,  as  the  Queen  and 
Madame  de  Montespan  would  be  certain  to  check  any 
inclination  towards  clemency  that  the  King  might  show. 
Marie  replied  angrily  that  the  King  was  grievously  mis- 
taken if  he  imagined  that  the  severity  with  which  he  had 
thought  fit  to  treat  her  would  have  the  effect  of  inducing 
her  to  return  to  the  Constable,  and  that  rather  than  do 
so,  she  would  leave  France  and  seek  "  a  more  hospitable 
country." 

This  was  exactly  what  her  brother,  who  appears  to 
have  been  acting  in  concert  with  Louis  XIV  and  also 
with  the  Constable,  wanted  ;  but  since  he  feared  some 
fresh  scandal,  unless  he  first  succeeded  in  calming  the 
state  of  exasperation  in  which  she  then  was,  he  promised 
to  ask  permission  of  the  King  for  her  to  remove  from 
Avenay  to  his  house  at  Nevers.  A  few  days  later,  he 
returned  with  the  desired  permission,  and  Marie  joy- 
fully quitted  the  abbey,  but  not  before  her  brother  had 
extracted  from  her  a  promise  that,  in  the  event  of  any- 
thing occurring  to  oblige  him  to  leave  Nevers,  she  would 
at  once  enter  another  convent. 

After  the  Constabless  had  passed  a  very  pleasant  week 
at  Nevers,  where  her  charming  sister-in-law,  nee  Diane 
de  Thianges,  overwhelmed  her  with  kindness,  the  duke 
suddenly  announced  that  important  business  called  him 
to  Venice,  and  reminded  her  of  her  promise.  Marie, 
though  in  despair  at  being  separated  from  the  duchess, 
thereupon  made  the  round  of  the  convents  in  the  town, 
but,  not  finding  one  to  her  liking,  suggested  that  she 
should  accompany  her  brother  as  far  as  Lyons,  where 

Y 


322  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

the  convents  were  more  commodious  than  those  at 
Nevers.  The  duke  acquiesced  readily  enough,  for,  as 
we  have  said,  it  was  his  object,  if  he  could  not  prevail 
upon  his  sister  to  return  to  her  husband,  at  any  rate  to 
induce  her  to  leave  France,  and  at  Lyons  she  would  be 
within  a  short  journey  of  the  frontier. 

On  reaching  Lyons,  where  they  were  received  by  the 
Marquis  de  Villeroi,  in  the  absence  of  his  father,  the 
duke  of  that  name,  who  was  governor  of  the  province, 
the  Constabless  visited  several  convents,  and  had  almost 
decided  to  enter  that  of  Sainte-Marie  de  la  Visitation, 
situated  on  an  eminence  which  commanded  a  view  of  the 
whole  city,  when  "  destiny,  ever  the  enemy  of  her  happi- 
ness, inspired  the  Marquis  de  Villeroi  and  her  brother 
to  dissuade  her,  and  they  succeeded  so  well  in  exaggerat- 
ing the  sufferings  which  she  had  endured  in  France,  and 
the  ill-treatment  which  she  had  received  from  the  King, 
that  she  took  the  resolution  to  leave  it  and  withdraw 
into  Italy,  without,  however,  informing  them  of  the  part 
to  which  it  was  her  intention  to  proceed."^  This,  as 
will  be  anticipated,  was  Savoy,  where  her  sister  Hortense 
had  already  found  an  asylum. 

Foreseeing  that  his  wife  was  not  unlikely  to  take  this 
resolution  sooner  or  later,  the  Constable  Colonna  had, 
some  weeks  previously,  begged  Cardinal  d'Estrees,  the 
French  Ambassador  at  Rome,  to  communicate  with  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  he  would 
be  willing  to  admit  the  princess  into  his  realm,  in  the 
event  of  her  desiring  to  come  thither.  The  Constable 
was,  above  all  things,  anxious  to  get  his  wife  out  of 
France  and  out  of  reach  of  Louis  XIV,  and,  since  he  was 
on  friendly  terms  with  Charles  Emmanuel,  he  did  not 
doubt  that  that  prince  would  do  everything  possible  to 
1  "  La  Vcrite  dans  son  jour." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  323 

persuade  his  wife  to  return  to  him,  and,  if  she  refused, 
very  probably  consent  to  surrender  her  into  his  hands. 

To  the  cardinal's  letter  the  Duke  sent  a  very  favour- 
able reply,  promising  not  only  to  receive  the  Constabless, 
should  she  demand  his  protection,  but  "  to  make  use  of 
the  greatest  diligence  to  dispose  her,  by  the  good  offices 
that  he  might  judge  most  efficacious,  to  lend  ear  to  an 
agreement  so  proper  and  so  laudable  (i.e.  a  reconciliation 
with  her  husband)." 

And  so  it  came  about  that  when  Marie  wrote  to 
Charles  Emmanuel  to  solicit  his  protection  and  permis- 
sion to  enter  some  convent  in  Savoy  or  Piedmont,  she 
received  in  reply  a  very  courteous  letter,  readily  grant- 
ing her  request  and  inviting  her  to  Turin. 


CHAPTER    XVn 

Cordial  reception  of  the  Constabless  by  Charles  Emmanuel  II  of  Savoy — 
She  enters  the  Convent  of  the  Visitation  at  Turin — A  touching  in- 
cident— Kindness  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  Marie — His  reply  to  the 
representations  of  the  Vatican — He  falls  in  love  with  the  Constabless 
— Don  Maurizio  di  Bologna  and  the  bravoes — Visit  of  the  Marchesa 
Paleotto  to  Marie — Alarm  of  the  latter — She  goes  to  visit  the 
Duchesse  de  Mazarin  at  Chambery — Selfish  conduct  of  Hortense — 
Return  of  Marie  to  Turin — Arrival  of  the  Marchese  di  Borgomainero 
— Treaty  between  the  Constabless  and  her  husband— Marie  goes  to 
reside  with  the  Prince  de  Carignan — Irritation  of  the  Constable — 
Louis  XIV,  at  his  solicitation,  orders  the  Prince  de  Carignan  to  send 
the  Constabless  away — Charles  Emmanuel  invites  her  to  La  Venerie 
— Her  dazzling  position — Nature  of  her  relations  with  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  considered  —  She  quarrels  with  Charles  Emmanuel  —  Vain 
attempts  of  the  Duke  to  effect  a  reconciliation — Louis  XIV  refuses 
the  Constabless  permission  to  enter  a  convent  in  France — She  sets  out 
for  Flanders  with  Borgomainero. 

"IITARIE  arrived  in  Piedmont  at  the  end  of  January 
"^  "^  1673,  and  was  met  at  Rivoli  by  a  gentleman  of 
the  Duke's  household,  with  one  of  the  royal  carriages 
and  an  escort  of  guards,  who  conducted  her  to  Turin. 
Some  distance  from  the  city  she  was  met  by  Charles 
Emmanuel  himself,  accompanied  by  a  number  of  gentle- 
men on  horseback,  all  eager  to  behold  this  beautiful 
Constabless,  whose  adventures  had  been  for  the  past  few 
months  the  talk  of  Europe. 

The  Duke  received  his  fair  guest  most  cordially, 
begged  her  to  enter  his  own  coach,  and  seemed  so  much 
impressed  by  the  charms  which  had  come  so  near  to  up- 
setting all  Mazarin's  carefully-laid  schemes  that  he  could 

324 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  325 

hardly  take  his  eyes  from  her  face,  until  the  lady,  in 
some  embarrassment,  lowered  her  veil.  In  the  mean- 
while, they  had  entered  Turin  and  arrived  at  the  Con- 
vent of  the  Visitation,  where  his  Highness  had  given 
orders  for  the  best  apartment  to  be  prepared  for  the 
reception  of  the  Constabless.  The  Archbishop  of 
Turin  was  at  the  gate  to  receive  them,  and,  while 
Marie  went  to  her  apartment  to  make  some  change  in 
her  dress,  the  Duke,  who  had  received  the  archbishop's 
authorisation  to  enter  the  convent  with  her,  waited  in 
the  garden.  Presently  the  lady  joined  him,  and,  not- 
withstanding the  cold,  they  paced  the  garden  together 
for  two  hours,  conversing  with  great  animation.  Before 
leaving,  the  prince,  in  the  most  delicate  manner  con- 
ceivable, begged  his  companion  to  regard  him  as  her 
treasurer,  if  ever  she  happened  to  be  in  need  of  money. 
"This  is  all  I  possess,"  answered  Marie,  and,  quickly 
unclasping  the  top  of  her  corsage,  she  showed  him  a 
superb  string  of  pearls  which  she  wore  round  her  neck. 
"  It  is  the  necklace  which  the  King  gave  me  when  I  left 
for  Brouage,"  she  added,  in  a  tone  of  deep  emotion. 
"  It  shall  never  leave  me." 

The  Duke  subsequently  related  this  incident  to  M.  de 
Gomont,  the  plenipotentiary  whom  Louis  XIV  had  sent, 
at  his  request,  to  arrange  terms  of  peace  between  Savoy 
and  Genoa.  Gomont  duly  informed  his  master,  and  the 
King,  touched  by  this  souvenir  of  the  past,  promptly  re- 
mitted to  the  Constabless  a  further  sum  of  one  thousand 
pistoles,  although  this  pension  had  originally  been  pro- 
mised her  only  so  long  as  she  remained  in  France. 

Turin  was  at  this  period  one  of  the  gayest  and  most 
brilliant  Courts  in  Europe.     The  Duke  and  Duchess,^ 

^  Marie  Jeanne  de  Savoie-Nemours,  only  daughter  of  the  Due  de 
Nemours. 


326  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

both  young  and  fond  of  pleasure — the  former  rather 
too  much  so,  from  all  accounts,  though  his  numerous 
gallantries  do  not  seem  to  have  lessened  the  affection  he 
had  always  felt  for  his  wife — neglected  nothing  to  attract 
to  their  Court  foreigners  of  distinction  and  the  wealthiest 
and  most  magnificent  of  their  own  nobility.  Splendid 
receptions,  balls,  f^tes,  ballets,  tournaments,  horse-races 
in  summer  and  sleigh-races  in  winter,  followed  one 
another  in  rapid  succession,  and  scarcely  a  day  passed 
without  the  courtiers  being  called  upon  to  assist  at  one 
or  more  of  these  diversions.  Poor  Marie,  shut  up  in  her 
convent,  was  of  course  precluded  from  participating  in 
any  of  the  gaieties  which  were  going  on  around  her;  but 
the  good-natured  and  gallant  Duke,  pitying  the  loneli- 
ness and  monotony  of  her  life,  visited  her  frequently, 
and,  on  one  occasion,  gave  orders  that  the  start  for  a 
sleigh-race  should  take  place  under  the  convent  walls, 
in  order  to  afford  her  some  amusement. 

The  Constable  Colonna,  who  was  duly  informed  of 
this  incident  by  the  Nuncio  at  Turin,  was  highly  indig- 
nant. In  his  eyes,  the  Convent  of  the  Visitation  ought 
to  be  a  prison,  of  which  the  Duke  of  Savoy  would  be 
the  gaoler,  and  here  was  the  prince  evidently  bent  on 
doing  everything  in  his  power  to  relieve  the  tedium  of 
his  wife's  existence  !  Nor  did  the  reports  which  reached 
him  of  the  frequent  visits  which  the  Duke  paid  to  the 
convent  tend  to  promote  a  more  amiable  frame  of  mind, 
and  he  accordingly  spurred  on  the  Vatican  to  make  the 
same  demands  to  Charles  Emmanuel  as  it  had  previously 
to  Louis  XIV.  Cardinal  Altieri  extracted  another  brief 
from  the  aged  Pontiff,  who  must  have  been  by  this  time 
heartily  tired  of  hearing  the  name  of  his  "  beloved 
daughter,"  the  Constabless  Colonna  ;  and  the  Nuncio 
was  instructed  to  make   strong  representations  to  the 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  327 

Duke  on  the  subject  ;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  Charles 
Emmanuel  replied  that  he  had  already  urged  the  lady  to 
be  reconciled  to  her  husband  in  such  "  severe  "  terms 
that  he  had  caused  her  to  shed  tears  ;  but  that  he  had 
given  her  his  word  that  he  would  not  permit  any  violence 
to  be  employed  against  her,  and  that  he  would  accord 
her  his  protection  whether  she  decided  to  remain  at 
Turin  or  to  go  elsewhere.  The  Nuncio  protested  ;  the 
Duke  declared  that  nothing  could  induce  him  to  go  back 
on  his  word,  and  the  diplomatist  sorrowfully  informed 
the  Vatican  that  "  he  greatly  feared  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  obtain  anything  from  him." 

Gradually  the  restrictions  to  which  the  Constabless 
had  at  first  been  subjected  were  removed.  The  Nuncio, 
at  bottom  a  kind-hearted  man,  petitioned  the  Vatican 
to  allow  the  devoted  Morena,  who,  on  account  of  her 
religion,  had  been  excluded  from  the  convent,  to  join 
her  mistress,  and  the  request  was  acceded  to.  Next, 
the  Archbishop  of  Turin  granted  her  permission  to 
receive  as  many  visitors  as  she  pleased  in  her  little  apart- 
ment, and  Gomont  and  the  French  Ambassador,  Servien, 
visited  her  two  or  three  times  a  week.  Finally,  she  was 
even  allowed  to  take  walks  outside  the  convent  walls, 
which  was  altogether  contrary  to  the  rules  of  Italian 
convents,  far  more  rigorous  than  those  of  France. 

For  these  concessions  Marie  was  no  doubt  indebted 
to  the  good  offices  of  Charles  Emmanuel.  The  Duke 
was  falling  more  and  more  under  the  spell  of  his  guest's 
charms,  and  "  paid  her  interminable  visits,"  which  soon 
became  the  chief  topic  of  conversation  in  both  Court 
and  town  ;  and  it  was  whispered  that  the  Constabless  had 
established  as  complete  an  empire  over  the  mind  and 
heart  of  his  Highness  as  she  had  formerly  exercised 
over  Louis  XIV's. 


328  FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS 

These  reports  duly  reached  the  Constable  Colonna, 
who  thereupon  despatched  one  of  his  confidants,  a  certain 
Don  Maurizio  di  Bologna,  ostensibly  on  a  visit  of 
courtesy  to  his  wife,  but  in  reality  to  spy  upon  her 
actions  and  keep  him  informed  of  all  that  concerned 
her.  About  the  same  time,  a  band  of  bravoes  arrived 
in  the  neighbourhood,  and  the  Constabless  was  convinced 
that  they  had  been  sent  by  her  husband  to  carry  her  off, 
if  she  were  indiscreet  enough  to  venture  far  from  the 
convent.  Don  Maurizio  pretended  that  they  were  in 
the  pay  of  the  Governor  of  Milan,  and  had  come  in 
search  of  a  man  who,  having  committed  an  assassination 
in  that  city,  had  fled  to  Turin  ;  but,  in  order  to  reassure 
the  princess,  the  Duke  of  Savoy  caused  them  to  be 
expelled  promptly  from  his  dominions. 

Soon  after  this  incident,  Marie  received  a  visit  from 
her  husband's  former  enchantress,  the  Marchesa  Paleotto. 
This  lady,  who  had  long  since  been  abandoned  by 
Colonna  for  fresh  conquests,  but  had  never  pardoned 
his  defection,  sought  to  persuade  the  Constabless  that 
it  was  commonly  believed  at  Rome  that,  if  her  husband 
ever  succeeded  in  getting  her  into  his  power  again,  he 
would  certainly  cause  her  to  be  made  away  with,  and 
darkly  hinted  that  the  object  of  Don  Maurizio  in 
coming  to  Turin  was  to  bribe  one  of  her  waiting- 
women  to  poison  her.  She  succeeded  in  alarming  the 
Constabless  to  such  an  extent  that  she  had  an  attack 
of  fever,  which  greatly  disturbed  the  Duke,  who  sent  his 
own  physicians  to  visit  her  three  times  a  day  and  wrote 
her  numerous  letters  of  sympathy  with  his  own  hand. 

On  her  recovery,  the  princess  confided  to  Charles 
Emmanuel  the  fears  which  oppressed  her,  and  though 
the  Duke  offered  to  send  her  her  meals  every  day  from 
his  own  table,  under  the  pretext  that  the  doctors  had  pre- 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  329 

scribed  for  her  a  special  diet,  nothing  would  satisfy  her 
but  to  leave  Turin  and  take  refuge  with  her  sister 
Hortense  at  Chambery.  The  Duke,  who  had  tried 
every  possible  means  to  dissuade  her,  was,  of  course, 
in  despair  at  the  prospect  of  her  departure,  but  she 
consoled  him  by  a  promise  that  she  would  not  be  absent 
more  than  a  month.  She  set  out  for  Chambery  at  the 
beginning  of  April  1673,^  in  one  of  the  prince's  car- 
riages and  escorted  by  some  of  his  guards,  while,  to 
render  her  still  more  secure,  Charles  Emmanuel  gave 
orders  that,  for  that  day,  horses  were  not  to  be  furnished 
to  any  one,  save  the  courier  of  the  French  Embassy  ; 
and  when  Don  Maurizio  demanded  horses  in  order  to 
follow  her,  they  were  refused  him.  The  greatest 
secrecy  as  to  her  destination  had  been  preserved,  and 
it  was  the  belief  in  Turin  that  she  was  on  her  way  to 
England,  where  Charles  II,  whom  she  had  met  fre- 
quently at  the  French  Court  during  his  days  of  exile, 
had  instructed  Lord  Montague,  the  English  Minister  to 
Savoy,  to  offer  her  an  asylum. 

During  the  weary  months  which  poor  Marie,  wounded 
to  the  heart  by  the  severity  of  Louis  XIV  and  tormented 
by  the  persecutions  of  her  husband,  had  been  spending 
in  convents  at  Lys,  Avenay,  and  Turin,  Hortense,  in- 
stalled in  the  ducal  chateau  at  Chambery,  had  been  lead- 
ing a  very  different  kind  of  life.  The  generosity  of  Charles 
Emmanuel  enabled  her  to  maintain  a  semi-royal  state, 
and  to  gather  around  her  a  little  Court,  composed  of  the 
nobility  and  the  high  officials  of  the  province  ;  and  we 
may  presume  that  she  had  no  lack  of  adorers,  without 
whom  she  would  have  found  even  the  most  sumptuous 

^    ^1  M.  Chantelauze  says  that  she  "escaped"  from  the  convent,  but  this 
is  incorrect. 


330  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

existence  difficult  to  endure.  The  Duke  invited  her  to 
his  hunting  parties,  entertained  her  magnificently  at  his 
country  residences,  and  occasionally  came  to  pay  her 
homage  at  Chambery.  As  for  her  husband,  she  troubled 
very  little  about  him,  except  to  apply  to  him  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  pension  of  24,000  livres  which  Louis  XIV 
had  promised  her,  and  which  seems  to  have  been  occasion- 
ally in  arrears,  since,  in  September  1672,  we  find  her 
writing  to  the  King,  begging  him  to  command  M.  de 
Mazarin  to  disgorge  without  further  delay,  and  "  not 
to  reduce  her  to  the  extremity  of  not  knowing  where 
to  lay  her  head." 

On  receiving  the  letter  announcing  that  her  sister 
was  on  her  way  to  visit  her,  Hortense  was  anything  but 
delighted.  Beneath  an  appearance  of  good  nature  and 
a  readiness  to  oblige  in  small  things,  the  beautiful 
duchess  concealed  a  thoroughly  selfish  heart,  and  now, 
forgetting  the  obligations  under  which  Marie  had 
placed  her,  in  the  fear  that  she  might  compromise  her 
own  interests  with  Louis  XIV,  and  perhaps  forfeit  her 
pension  by  extending  to  her  her  hospitality,  she  sud- 
denly remembered  a  vow  which  she  had  made  to  Saint- 
Francis  of  Sales,  and  the  accomplishment  of  which 
would  not  permit  of  a  moment's  further  delay,  and 
hastily  quitted  Chambery  without  saying  a  word  as  to 
her  destination. 

Marie  was  naturally  much  incensed  at  the  conduct  of 
her  sister,  and  after  remaining  a  few  days  at  Saint-Inno- 
cent, as  the  guest  of  the  bishop,  returned  to  Turin, 
where  she  had  the  additional  mortification  of  learning 
that  Louis  XIV,  at  the  solicitation  of  her  husband,  who 
appears  to  have  been  under  the  impression  that  France 
had  been  her  objective,  had  issued  the  most  stringent 
injunctions  to  the  officials  of  the  frontier  provinces  to 


From  an  engraving  by  G.  Vallet 

CHARLES   K.MMANL'EL   II,    DUKK   OF   SAVOY 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  331 

prevent  her  entering  his  realm.  However,  the  Duke 
of  Savoy  showed  himself  so  delighted  at  her  return,  and 
paid  her  such  delicate  attentions,  that  she  soon  recovered 
her  spirits,  and  profited  by  the  permission  which  she  had 
obtained  to  leave  the  convent  once  a  week  to  attend  several 
hunting-parties  and  other  entertainments  which  Charles 
Emmanuel  gave  at  his  country-seat  of  La  Venerle. 

Having  tasted  the  sweets  of  liberty  once  more,  the 
Constabless  began  to  find  the  restrictions  of  convent  life 
more  irksome  than  ever,  and  she  implored  the  Duke  to 
permit  her  to  leave  her  cloister.  The  prince,  only  too 
anxious  to  have  greater  facilities  for  enjoying  the  society 
of  the  lady  to  whom  he  had  now  completely  lost  his  heart, 
communicated  with  the  Constable,  who  despatched  an 
envoy  to  Turin  In  the  person  of  Don  Carlo  d'Este,  Mar- 
chese  dl  Boro:omainero.^  Between  this  nobleman  and  the 
Prime  Minister  of  Savoy,  the  Marchese  di  SanTommasso, 
interminable  pourparlers  took  place,  until  the  latter  de- 
clared that  no  affair  of  State  had  ever  occasioned  him  such 
trouble  and  annoyance.  At  length,  a  kind  of  treaty  was 
drawn  up,  whereby  It  was  arranged  that  the  Constabless 
was  to  be  permitted  to  remain  at  large  for  the  space  of 
four  months,  but  on  the  condition  that  she  should  not 
quit  the  dominions  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who,  on  his 
side,  undertook  to  prevent  her  departure.  If,  on  the 
expiration  of  the  four  months,  the  lady  still  declined  to 
return  to  her  husband,  she  must  then  select  a  convent 
(those  In  the  Ecclesiastical  States  and  all  States  subject  to 
the  Spanish  Crown  excepted),  and  remain  there  during 
the  Constable's  good  pleasure. 

Marie   now   quitted    her    convent    and    accepted   the 
invitation  of  the   Prince   de   Carignan,   brother  of  the 

^  He  was  the  second  son  of  Filippo  Francesco  d'Este  and  Margherita, 
legitimated  daughter  of  Charles  Emmanuel  I,  Duke  of  Savoy. 


332  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Comte  de  Soissons,  to  take  up  her  residence  at  his 
palace.  Here  she  was  so  hospitably  entertained  that  the 
Constable,  informed  by  his  agents,  Don  Maurizio  and 
Borgomainero,  of  the  minutest  details  concerning  his 
wife,  became  exceedingly  angry,  and  wrote  a  very  dis- 
courteous letter  to  the  prince,  complaining  that  the  hos- 
pitality which  his  wife  was  receiving  at  his  palace  was 
the  principal  motive  of  her  persistent  refusal  to  return  to 
Rome,  and  accusing  him  of  encouraging  her  in  her  con- 
tumacy. 

M.  de  Carignan  informed  the  Prime  Minister,  and 
the  lady's  affairs  had  by  this  time  assumed  so  much  im- 
portance that  a  Council  of  State  was  held  to  consider 
what  course  to  pursue.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the 
irate  Constable  had  appealed  to  Louis  XIV,  who,  anxious 
to  avoid  any  appearance  of  supporting  the  Constabless 
against  her  husband,  wrote  to  the  Prince  de  Carignan, 
who  was  a  French  subject,  ordering  him  to  send  her  away. 
The  prince,  in  great  distress,  informed  his  guest  of  the 
receipt  of  the  King's  letter,  which,  he  said,  left  him  no 
alternative  but  to  obey,  and  Marie,  in  high  dudgeon,  at 
once  quitted  the  palace,  without  even  taking  leave  of 
her  host,  and  hurried  to  La  Venerie,  where  Charles 
Emmanuel  then  was,  to  inform  him  of  the  manner  in 
which  she  was  being  treated.  The  chivalrous  Duke  im- 
mediately offered  her  the  hospitality  of  La  Venerie,  and 
a  few  days  later,  the  Constable  Colonna  had  the  mortifi- 
cation of  learning:  that  his  wife  was  installed  in  one  of 
the  finest  suites  of  apartments  in  the  ducal  residence. 

The  position  now  occupied  by  the  adventurous  prin- 
cess was  in  many  respects  similar  to  that  which  she  had 
enjoyed  at  the  French  Court  during  the  two  years  which 
had  preceded  her  exile  to  La  Rochelle.  It  was  in  her 
honour   that  all   the  hunting-parties,   fetes,   and  ballets 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  333 

were  arranged ;  every  day  she  received  in  her  apartments 
the  foreign  Ministers  and  the  principal  personages  of 
the  Court,  and  she  exercised  over  the  Duke  the  most 
absolute  empire,  for  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  was  the 
most  complacent  and  unsuspicious  of  consorts,  and  there 
was  no  Mazarin  to  interfere.  What  was  the  exact  nature 
of  that  empire  is  difficult  to  determine  ;  the  Duke  was 
certainly  of  a  very  ardent  temperament,  and  his  conquests, 
or  what  he  flattered  himself  were  conquests,  were  in- 
numerable. But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Constabless  had 
hitherto  shown  herself  as  discreet  in  affairs  of  the  heart 
as  she  was  rash  and  impetuous  in  other  matters  ;  and 
we  are,  therefore,  inclined  to  think  that  his  Highness 
remained  a  soupirant^  *■''  toujour s  afflige,  jamais  desespere"  as 
that  most  ingenious  of  literary  forgers.  La  Beaumelle, 
makes  Madame  de  Maintenon  say  of  Louis  XIV. 

One  cloud  alone  obscured  the  brightness  of  the  prin- 
cess's horizon  :  the  thought  that,  in  a  few  short  weeks,  she 
would  have  to  choose  between  a  reconciliation  with  her 
now  detested  husband  and  a  return  to  the  solitude  and 
monotony  of  convent  life.  Marie,  however,  was  never 
one  of  those  who  take  thought  for  the  morrow,  and  the 
knowledge  that  this  delightful  existence  must  so  soon 
come  to  an  end  caused  her  to  plunge  with  an  added  zest 
into  the  pleasures  of  the  moment. 

But,  ever  unfortunate,  her  evil  star  was  soon  in  the 
ascendant  again.  She  quarrelled  with  the  Duke  and 
quitted  his  realm,  to  fall  into  a  succession  of  misfortunes 
far  greater  than  those  which  she  had  hitherto  experienced. 
Let  us  listen  to  her  own  account  of  the  matter  : — 

"My  happiness  was  too  great.  Fortune,  which  de- 
lighted in  tormenting  me,  took  care  not  to  permit  it  to  last. 
To  interrupt,  accordingly,  its  course,  she  inspired  his 
Royal  Highness  with  political  sentiments,  and  impelled 


334  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

him  one  day  to  propose  to  me  to  return  to  Rome,  point- 
ing out  that  I  should  be  much  happier  there  than  in  a 
cloister,  and  that,  if  there  were  any  obstacle  to  my  return, 
besides  the  ill-feeling  existing  between  the  Constable  and 
myself,  he  would  be  the  guarantor  of  our  reunion. 

'*  This  proposal,  joined  to  other  things  that  he  said  to 
me  at  La  Venerie,  shocked  me  so  much  that,  following 
the  impulse  of  my  hasty  temper,  I  determined  to  set  out 
immediately  to  return  to  the  convent.  And  this  I  did, 
although  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  hindered  my  departure 
and  kept  me  a  week  longer,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
time  they  both  accompanied  me  to  the  convent."  i 

According  to  Lucien  Percy  and  Marie  and  Hortense's 
Italian  biographer,  Signor  Domenico  Perrero,^  the  Con- 
stabless,  in  her  "  M^moires,"  has  told  us  only  a  portion  of 
the  truth.     The  real  facts  were  as  follows  : — 

The  Duchess  of  Savoy,  although  as  we  have  men- 
tioned, one  of  the  most  complacent  and  unsuspicious  of 
consorts,  was  beginning  to  be  somewhat  alarmed  at  the 
assiduous  attentions  paid  by  the  Duke  to  their  beautiful 
guest,  and  the  influence  which  the  latter  exercised  over 
her  husband.  The  prince,  perceiving  this,  proposed  one 
day  to  Marie  that,  in  order  to  allay  any  suspicions  which 
might  have  arisen  in  his  consort's  mind,  it  would  perhaps 
be  as  well  if,  now  and  again,  he  were  to  insist,  in  the 
Duchess's  presence,  on  the  advisability  of  a  reconciliation 
between  the  Constabless  and  her  husband.  Unhappily 
for  herself,  Marie  appears  to  have  misunderstood  him, 
and  when,  shortly  afterwards,  his  Highness  proceeded 
to  put  his  little  plan  into  execution,  she  flew  into  a 
violent  passion,  brusquely  quitted  the  room,  and,  the 

1  "  La  Verite  dans  son  jour." 

2  Lucien  Percy,  "Marie  Mancini  Colonna."  Perrero,  "La  Duchessa 
Ortensia  Mazzarino,  la  Principesse  Maria  Colonna,  et  il  duca  Carlo 
Emanuele  II  di  Savoia." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  335 

same  evening,  announced  her  intention  of  immediately 
returning  to  the  convent. 

At  the  request  of  the  Duchess,  Marie,  as  she  has  told 
us,  consented  to  remain  another  week  at  La  V^nerie, 
during  which  the  Duke  attempted  to  heal  the  breach 
between  them  ;  but  to  no  purpose.  However,  he  did 
not  abandon  hope,  and,  after  the  Constabless's  return  to 
the  convent,  sent  the  Prime  Minister,  San  Tommasso, 
to  endeavour  to  bring  the  lady  to  a  more  reasonable 
frame  of  mind.  But  his  efforts  were  equally  fruitless, 
and  Marie  directed  him  to  inform  his  Highness  that 
she  had  determined  to  relieve  him  of  the  burden  of  her 
presence  so  soon  as  the  four  months  mentioned  in  the 
agreement  with  the  Constable  had  expired,  and  that 
nothing  could  alter  her  resolution. 

.Still  hankering  after  her  beloved  France,  the  Consta- 
bless  wrote  to  Louis  XIV,  begging  him  to  permit  her  to 
enter  some  convent  within  his  realm  and  informing  him 
of  the  agreement  which  she  had  entered  into  with  her 
husband,  whereby  she  had  solemnly  engaged  not  to  leave 
whatever  religious  house  she  might  decide  to  enter  with- 
out his  express  permission.  This,  she  imagined,  would 
relieve  his  Majesty's  mind  of  all  fears  of  her  suddenly 
descending  upon  him  at  Versailles  or  Fontainebleau. 
She  also  wrote  to  Colbert  and  to  other  Ministers,  en- 
treating them  to  intercede  for  her  with  the  King. 

Louis  XIV,  as  might  have  been  foreseen,  refused  to 
accede  to  her  request — or  rather,  he  ignored  it ;  but  he 
directed  Colbert  to  send  her  a  further  sum  of  a  thousand 
pistoles,  since  he  did  not  wish  it  to  be  supposed  that  his 
refusal  had  been  prompted  by  motives  of  economy. 

Marie  now  resolved  upon  a  most  fatal  step.  The 
Constable  Colonna,  who  had  of  late  adopted  a  much 
more  conciliatory  tone  towards  his  wife,  even  going  so 


336  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

far  as  to  second  her  request  to  Louis  XIV  to  allow  her 
to  re-enter  France — he  had,  of  course,  previously  taken 
care  to  ascertain  that  there  was  not  the  remotest  likeli- 
hood of  such  a  request  being  granted — now  suggested 
that,  since  France  was  closed  to  her  and  she  did  not 
wish  to  remain  in  Savoy,  she  should  enter  some  convent 
in  Flanders,  whither  he  would  send  his  friend  the  Mar- 
chese  di  Borgomainero  to  escort  her.  The  Constabless 
had  at  first  entertained  the  most  profound  distrust  of 
this  personage,  whom  she  regarded  as  the  creature  of 
her  husband  ;  but  he  was  a  handsome  man  of  insinuating 
manners,  and  he  ended  by  gaining  her  entire  confidence 
and  in  convincing  her  of  his  own  and  the  Constable's 
good  faith.  And  so,  notwithstanding  the  warnings  of 
the  French  plenipotentiary  Gomont,  who  entertained  a 
warm  regard  for  the  Constabless,  and  entreated  her  not 
to  trust  Borgomainero,  Marie  resolved  to  proceed  to 
Brussels,  and,  on  15  October  1673,  left  Turin,  in  com- 
pany with  the  marquis  and  a  certain  Abbate  Oliva,  whom 
the  Constable  had  sent  from  Rome  to  act  as  her  chaplain. 
Charles  Emmanuel,  to  whom,  the  lady  tells  us,  she 
went  to  bid  adieu,  "  more  from  motives  of  courtesy 
than  of  inclination,"  overwhelmed  her  with  reproaches, 
and  appeared  deeply  grieved  by  her  determination  to 
leave  his  realm,  "  imploring  her  earnestly  to  tell  him 
whither  she  was  bound,  and  assuring  her  that  in  no 
country  would  she  find  a  prince  more  devoted  to  her,  or 
one  who  would  accord  her  more  powerful  protection." 
"  I  listened,"  she  adds,  "  to  his  reproaches  and  his  offers 
with  great  attention,  and,  in  taking  leave  of  him, 
thanked  him  for  the  latter,  which  my  resolution  to  quit 
his  State  left  me  no  longer  room  to  accept.  He  gave 
me  his  hand  and  conducted  me  to  the  coach  in  which 
we  departed." 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

A  comedy  of  errors — The  Constabless  is  warned  by  the  French  pleni- 
potentiaries at  Cologne  not  to  enter  Flanders — She  is  lodged  in  the 
citadel  of  Antwerp,  and  finds  herself  a  prisoner — She  obtains  per- 
mission to  enter  a  convent  at  Brussels — But,  at  the  last  moment, 
changes  her  mind,  and  takes  sanctuary  in  a  church — She  returns  to 
Antwerp — Letter  from  the  Duke  of  Savoy — The  Constable  Colonna 
gives  his  consent  to  her  entering  a  convent  in  Madrid — She  embarks 
for  Spain  with  Don  Ferdinando  Colonna — -Her  arrival  in  Spain — 
The  Admiral  of  Castile — Marie's  stay  at  his  house — She  enters  the 
Convent  of  San  Domingo-el-Real — Permission  to  leave  it  refused  her 
— She  escapes,  but  is  induced  to  return — Her  letter  to  Charles  II 
of  England — Publication  of  Marie's  apocryphal  Memoirs — Her 
genuine  Memoirs — Recall  of  Don  Juan  of  Austria  to  Madrid — 
Second  escape  of  the  Constabless — She  is  compelled  to  return — The 
Council  deliberate  on  her  case — She  flies  to  Ballecas,  but  is  again 
brought  back — The  Constable  Colonna,  appointed  Viceroy  of 
Aragon,  arrives  in  Madrid — His  interview  with  his  wife — Entry  of 
the  young  Queen,  Marie  Louise  d'Orleans,  into  Madrid — The 
Constabless  takes  refuge  at  the  French  Embassy — Severe  orders  of 
Carlos  II  in  regard  to  her — The  Queen  takes  her  part — She  is 
forcibly  carried  off  and  imprisoned  in  the  Alcazar  of  Segovia — She 
promises  to  become  a  nun,  and  enter  the  Convent  of  the  Conception 
at  Madrid — Brief  of  Innocent  XI — Marie  declines  to  carry  out  her 
promise,  and  scandalises  the  nuns — She  is  set  at  liberty. 

'  I  ''HE  Constabless,  accompanied  by  Borgomainero, 
the  Abbate  Ollva,  the  faithful  Morena,  and  a 
valet  de  chamhre,  took  the  St.  Bernard  route,  but  the 
rest  of  her  suite,  with  the  greater  part  of  her  baggage, 
travelled  by  way  of  the  Milanese,  intending  to  rejoin 
their  mistress  at  Mayence.  And  this  division  of  their 
forces  resulted  in  an  amusing  little  comedy.  The  Con- 
stable Colonna,  who,  in  spite  of  his  assurances  to  the 
z  337 


338  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

contrary,  had  not  the  smallest  intention  of  keeping  faith 
with  his  wife,  had  no  sooner  been  informed  of  her  in- 
tention to  leave  Turin  than  he  sent  a  courier  to  the 
Duque  d'Ossuna,  the  Governor  of  the  Milanese,  with 
whom  he  was  on  intimate  terms,  begging  him  to  arrest 
his  wife  and  keep  her  until  further  instructions  from 
him.  He  apparently,  however,  neglected  to  inform 
Borgomainero  of  his  intentions,  so  that  the  only  prison- 
ers whom  the  governor  secured  were  Marie's  waiting- 
women,  one  of  whom,  called  Nanette,  being  a  very 
handsome  and  distinguished-looking  young  woman,  was 
mistaken  by  the  officer  in  command  of  the  soldiers  sent 
to  arrest  them  for  her  mistress,  and  treated  with  every 
imaginable  honour  ;  nor  was  it  until  she  had  been  in  a 
very  luxurious  kind  of  captivity  at  Ancona  for  nearly 
a  week  that  the  mistake  was  discovered,  and  she  and  her 
companions  permitted  to  resume  their  journey.  The 
Constable,  on  hearing  of  what  had  occurred,  hastened  to 
disavow  the  governor's  action  ;  nevertheless,  it  seems 
scarcely  credible  that  Marie  should  still  have  persisted 
in  her  belief  in  his  good  faith,  and  that,  when  she 
arrived  at  Cologne,  where  the  abortive  Congress  was 
then  sitting,  she  should  have  refused  to  listen  to  the 
warnings  of  the  French  plenipotentiaries,  Courtin  and 
Barillon,  who  begged  her  not  to  venture  into  Flanders, 
as,  from  information  they  had  received,  they  had  not  the 
least  doubt  that  she  would  be  arrested  the  moment  she 
set  foot  on  Spanish  territory.  On  arriving  at  Malines, 
she  was  received  with  great  courtesy  by  the  governor  of 
the  town,  but  informed  that  he  had  orders  from  the 
Comte  de  Monterey,  the  Governor  of  Flanders,  not  to 
allow  her  to  proceed  to  Brussels,  where  she  had  decided 
to  enter  the  Couvent  de  Barlemont,  until  everything  was 
ready  for  her  reception.     A  few  days  later,  Monterey 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  339 

sent  one  of  his  suite  to  request  the  princess  to  proceed 
to  Antwerp,  whither  instructions  had  been  sent  to  pre- 
pare apartments  for  her  reception  in  the  citadel.  Here 
she  was  again  received  with  great  respect,  and  conducted 
to  the  fortress  by  the  governor  himself  and  an  escort  of 
nobles.  But  when,  a  day  or  two  later,  she  expressed  a 
wish  to  take  a  drive  into  the  town,  she  was  informed 
that  it  could  ,not  be  permitted,  and,  going  to  the  door  of 
her  apartment,  found  an  officer  and  two  guards  stationed 
there. 

From  that  day  she  was  treated  like  a  State  criminal, 
prohibited  from  receiving  visitors,  and  even  from  com- 
municating with  her  friends.  However,  having  pressed 
the  Comte  de  Monterey  to  permit  her  to  enter  a  convent 
at  Brussels,  her  request  was  eventually  acceded  to,  and 
Borgomainero  was  charged  to  prepare  an  apartment  for 
her  in  the  Couvent  des  Anglaises  in  that  city.  She  set 
out  for  Brussels,  accompanied  by  the  captain  of  the 
governor's  guards,  but,  ascertaining  in  the  course  of 
the  journey  that  the  Couvent  des  Anglaises  was  little 
better  than  a  prison,  and  that  every  imaginable  precau- 
tion had  been  taken  to  guard  against  any  possibility  of 
her  escape,  she  resolved  that  nothing  should  induce  her 
to  enter  it,  and  took  sanctuary  in  an  adjoining  church, 
*'  under  the  pretext  of  making  her  devotions,"  which 
she  absolutely  refused  to  quit,  unless  the  governor  would 
promise  her  permission  to  enter  some  convent  of  her 
own  selection. 

The  captain  of  the  guards  sent  for  the  governor, 
who,  finding  entreaties  and  threats  equally  unavailing, 
sent,  in  his  turn,  for  the  Nuncio  and  the  Archbishop 
of  Brussels,  to  obtain  their  authorisation  to  enter  the 
church  and  remove  the  lady  by  force.  The  ecclesiastics, 
however,  anxious  to  avoid  scandal,  counselled  patience, 


340  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

and  Monterey,  having  posted  a  guard  at  the  door  of 
the  church,  withdrew.  The  princess,  on  her  side,  had 
resolved  to  spend  all  night  in  the  church,  when  a 
worthy  citizen  named  Bruneau,  with  whom  she  had 
some  slight  acquaintance,  entered  and  begged  her  to 
leave  the  church  and  enter  his  house  hard  by,  warning 
her  that  the  governor  had  only  desisted  from  employing 
force  for  fear  of  scandal,  and  that,  so  soon  as  night  fell, 
the  soldiers  had  orders  to  tear  her  from  her  sanctuary. 
The  lady  consented,  and  repaired  to  M.  Bruneau's 
house,  around  which  the  soldiers  immediately  posted 
themselves,  and  rendered  it  "  more  secure  than  the 
tower  of  Danae." 

After  "  sobs  and  tears "  had  failed  to  procure  any 
mitigation  of  her  lot  from  the  stony-hearted  governor, 
the  Constabless  implored  him  to  allow  her  to  proceed  to 
Madrid  and  enter  a  convent  there.  Overjoyed  at  the 
prospect  of  being  relieved  of  his  troublesome  charge, 
the  Comte  de  Monterey  wrote  to  the  Constable,  urging 
him  to  give  her  the  desired  permission.  In  the  mean- 
time, as  he  found  himself  obliged  to  proceed  to  Antwerp 
and  to  withdraw  his  guards,  he  begged  the  princess  to 
return  to  the  citadel,  promising  that  she  should  be 
treated  with  less  rigour,  and  that  he  would  even  permit 
her  an  occasional  drive,  under  the  escort  of  the  lieu- 
Tenant  of  the  fortress.  And,  having  first  insisted  on 
his  signing  a  sort  of  treaty  embodying  these  conditions, 
she  consented.  Here  a  letter  full  of  expressions  of 
tenderness  and  devotion  from  the  Duke  of  Savoy  was 
smuggled  into  the  fortress  by  the  faithful  Morena,  and, 
we  are  assured,  produced  on  the  wounded  feelings  of 
her  mistress  "  the  effect  of  a  sovereign  balm."  From 
that  time  a  regular  correspondence  was  established  be- 
tween Marie  and  Charles  Emmanuel,  which  continued 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  341 

until  the  latter's  untimely  death  in  the  following  June  ; 
but  unfortunately  none  of  these  letters  have  come  down 
to  us. 

A  few  weeks  later,  Don  Ferdinando  Colonna,  a  natural 
brother  of  the  Constable,  arrived  at  Antwerp  and  in- 
formed Marie  that  her  husband  had  given  his  consent 
to  her  removing  to  Madrid,  and  had  charged  him  to 
escort  her  thither.  Marie,  thereupon,  wrote  to  the 
Duque  de  Medina  de  Rio  Secco,  Admiral  of  Castile, 
who  was  a  friend  of  her  husband,  to  beg  him  to  re- 
ceive her  on  her  arrival  in  Madrid,  and  to  the  Queen- 
Dowager^  to  request  permission  to  enter  a  convent 
there,  and  without  waiting  for  an  answer,  she  and  Don 
Ferdinando  travelled  to  Ostend  and  embarked  on  an 
English  vessel,  which,  in  nine  days,  landed  them  at 
San -Sebastian.  Here  they  waited  a  week,  when, 
having  received  no  reply  either  from  the  Queen- 
Dowager  or  the  Admiral,  they  continued  their  journey 
until  they  reached  Alcobendas,  a  village  three  leagues 
from  Madrid,  where  a  courier  met  them  with  the  ex- 
pected letters,  both  containing  favourable  answers.  A 
little  further  on,  they  saw  approaching  at  a  gallop  two 
handsome  but  unwieldy  carriages,  each  drawn  by  six 
magnificent  mules.  They  contained  the  Admiral  of 
Castile,  the  Duque  d'Albuquerque,  the  Marques  d'Al- 
cagnicas,  his  second  son,  and  the  wives  of  the  two  last 
noblemen,  who  had  come  to  receive  their  guest  and  con- 
duct her  to  a  beautiful  pleasure-house  belonging  to  the 
Admiral  in  the  environs  of  Madrid,  "  splendidly  fur- 
nished and  ornamented  with  the  richest  paintings  in 
Europe." 

^  Maria  Anna  of  Austria,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  and  the 
Infanta  Donna  Maria.  She  governed  Spain  during  the  minority  of  her 
son,  Charles  II,  from  1 665-1675. 


342  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

The  Admiral  of  Castile,  although  more  than  fifty 
years  of  age,  was  one  of  the  handsomest  as  well  as  one 
of  the  wealthiest  grandees  in  Spain,  a  great  patron  of 
art  and  letters  and  an  amateur  poet  of  some  distinction. 
His  love  for  the  arts,  however,  was  not  his  chief  pas- 
sion, and  he  is  said  to  have  kept  as  many  as  sixteen 
mistresses  in  his  immense  palace  in  Madrid,  without, 
however,  in  any  way  incommoding  the  duchess,  who 
complacently  ignored  their  presence.  With  the  beauti- 
ful Constabless  he  fell  deeply  in  love  at  first  sight ;  but 
the  lady  does  not  appear  to  have  responded  to  his 
advances. 

The  life  now  led  by  Marie  was  in  pleasing  contrast  to 
the  rigorous  confinement  to  which  she  had  been  subjected 
at  Antwerp  and  Brussels.  She  was  splendidly  lodged 
and  "  treated  like  a  queen  "  by  her  host,  who  did  every- 
thing possible  to  please  and  divert  her,  visited  by  the 
greatest  families  of  the  capital,  the  Nuncio  and  the 
foreign  Ministers,  and  received  by  the  Queen-Dowager. 
She  was  still,  however,  in  a  state  of  honourable  captivity, 
and  the  Abbate  Don  Ferdinando  Colonna  watched  over 
her  with  jealous  care,  and  was  terribly  alarmed  whenj 
one  day,  accompanied  by  Morena,  and  without  saying  a 
word  to  any  one,  she  went  for  a  drive  along  the  pro- 
menade by  the  river.  This  proceeding,  the  Nuncio 
Marescotti  informs  Cardinal  Altieri,  had  greatly  shocked 
the  Court  and  society  generally,  as  it  was  not  the  custom 
in  Madrid  for  ladies  of  quality  to  frequent  the  public 
promenades,  and  he  feared  that,  after  this  escapade,  no 
grande  dame  would  care  to  visit  her.  However,  her 
friends  excused  the  Constabless's  conduct  on  the  ground 
of  her  ignorance  of  Spanish  etiquette,  and  the  wrath  of 
the  fashionable  world  was  appeased. 

After     remaining    for    some    three    months    in    the 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  343 

Admirars  delightful  residence,  Marie,  unwilling  to  be  at 
any  further  expense  to  her  host,  requested  permission  of 
the  Queen-Dowager  to  allow  her  to  enter  the  convent 
of  San  Domingo-el-Real.  It  was  contrary  to  the  rules  of 
Spanish  convents  to  take  pensioners,  and  the  nuns  refused 
to  receive  her,  until  the  Queen-Dowager  had  declared, 
by  a  royal  decree,  that  this  favour  would  not  be  con- 
sidered a  precedent.  The  princess  entered  the  convent 
at  the  beginning  of  September  1674,  escorted  thither  by 
the  Admiral  and  the  Nuncio.  In  order  to  enjoy  greater 
liberty,  she  was  given  a  house  adjoining  the  monastery, 
precautions  having  first  been  taken  to  make  it  secure, 
One  half  she  occupied  herself;  while  the  Abbate 
Colonna  and  her  domestics  were  installed  in  the  other. 
Don  Pedro  of  Aragon,  whom  she  had  known  during  his 
Viceroyalty  at  Naples,  from  1666  to  1672,  furnished  it 
from  top  to  bottom  with  tapestries  of  great  value. 

Perhaps  the  Constabless  might  have  resigned  herself 
to  pass  the  remainder  of  her  days  in  the  convent  of 
San  Domingo-el-Real,  where  the  abbess,  Donna  Vittoria 
Porcia  Oroseo,  and  the  nuns  did  all  in  their  power  to 
render  her  stay  as  pleasant  as  possible,  if,  as  she  had  been 
fully  led  to  expect,  permission  had  been  granted  her,  as 
at  Turin,  to  go  out  once  a  week  to  visit  her  friends  at 
the  Court.  But,  on  the  express  demand  of  her  hus- 
band, this  privilege  was  refused  her,  and,  in  great  indig- 
nation at  what  she  considered  an  unpardonable  breach  of 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  Court,  Marie  now  demanded 
permission  to  return  to  Flanders  and  make  her  home 
with  her  second  son  Don  Marco  Colonna,  who,  although 
only  a  boy  of  thirteen,  had  recently,  at  her  request, 
received  the  command  of  two  companies  of  Spanish 
cavalry  stationed  there.  The  Queen-Dowager  and  the 
Admiral  both  wrote  to  the  Constable  to  obtain  his  con- 


344  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

sent ;  but  Colonna  replied  that  he  preferred  to  know  that 
his  wife  was  in  security  in  Madrid  rather  than  at  liberty 
elsewhere. 

Soon  after  this,  the  Marques  de  los  Balbases,  who 
had  never  forgiven  the  Constabless  for  the  manner  in 
which  she  had  treated  him  on  the  occasion  of  their  first 
meeting  fourteen  years  before,  when,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, he  had  pretended  to  be  her  husband,  wrote 
to  Rome,  warning  the  Constable  that  it  was  his  wife's 
intention  to  fly  from  Spain,  as  the  result  of  which  the 
unfortunate  lady  was  kept  under  the  strictest  sur- 
veillance, and  even  the  liberty  which  she  had  heretofore 
enjoyed  to  go  wherever  she  pleased  within  the  convent 
was  curtailed.  Her  patience  was  now  exhausted,  and,  at 
the  beginning  of  November,  taking  advantage  of  the 
absence  of  the  watchful  Don  Ferdinando,  she  effected  her 
escape  and  took  refuge  at  the  house  of  one  of  her  friends, 
from  whence  she  wrote  to  the  Admiral  and  other 
Ministers,  to  inform  them  that  her  intention  was  not 
to  fly  to  France  or  England,  as  her  enemies  had  falsely 
asserted,  but  only  to  reside  in  the  house  in  which 
she  then  was,  and  begging  them  to  assist  her  to  obtain 
this  concession.  However,  neither  the  Admiral  nor 
his  colleagues  seemed  disposed  to  assist  her,  and,  after 
a  week  of  comparative  liberty,  through  the  efforts  of 
the  Nuncio  Mellini  and  the  Admiral,  the  Constabless 
consented  to  return  to  her  convent.  Here  a  new 
difficulty  presented  itself,  as  the  nuns  refused  to 
receive  a  lady  who  had  caused  such  a  scandal,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  Nuncio  threatened  them  with  ex- 
communication that  they  finally  yielded. 

The  Nuncio  promised  the  Constabless  to  write  to  her 
husband  and  endeavour  to  prevail  upon  him  to  consent 
to  her  leaving   the  convent,  begging  her,  at  the  same 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  345 

time,  to  give  him  her  word  that  until  his  reply  was 
received  she  would  make  no  further  attempt  to  escape. 
Marie  declined,  however,  and,  shortly  afterwards,  a 
second  scandal  was  only  prevented  by  the  vigilance  of 
Don  Ferdinando. 

During  the  next  two  years,  the  life  of  the  Constabless 
was  uneventful  ;  she  remained  in  her  convent,  chafing 
under  the  restraints  to  which  she  was  subjected,  and 
continually  petitioning  the  Queen-Dowager  and  the 
Ministers  to  accord  her  her  liberty  ;  but,  since  her 
husband  absolutely  refused  to  give  his  consent  to  her 
leaving  her  prison,  her  prayers  were  unproductive  of 
any  result.  In  March  1676,  we  find  her  writing  to 
Charles  II  of  England,  who,  during  her  stay  at  Turin, 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  offered  her  an  asylum  in  his  realm. 
She  makes  no  definite  request,  save  that  of  retaining  his 
friendship,  but  she  no  doubt  hoped  that  he  would 
interest  himself  on  her  behalf. 

The  Constabless  to  King  Charles  II  of  England. 

"Madrid,  26  March  1676. 

"  I  should  have  given  myself  the  honour  of  writing 
to  your  Majesty,  if  I  had  been  able  to  hope  that  my 
letters  would  have  been  conveyed  to  him  with  all  the 
secrecy  that  I  wished.  My  desire  to  retain  the  kindly 
sentiments  which  your  Majesty  expressed  for  me,  while 
I  was  at  Turin,  and  my  fear  that  you  have  been  pre- 
judiced against  me,  impels  me  to  ask  you  for  their 
confirmation.  Send  it  me,  I  entreat  you,  since  I  could 
receive  nothing  more  opportune  or  more  agreeable  in 
the  state  in  which  I  find  myself.  But  let  your  Majesty 
accompany  it  with  secrecy,  since  there  is  nothing  of 
more  importance,  and  since  the  good  or  ill   success  of 


346  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

my  affairs  depends  upon  it  absolutely,  as  I  depend  upon 
your  Majesty  ;  being  all  my  life  his  most  humble  and 
very  obedient  servant."  ^ 

About  the  same  time,  appeared  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"Les  Memoires  de  M.L.P.M.M.  [Madame  la  Princesse 
Marie  Mancini]  Colonne,  G.  Connetable  du  Royaume 
de  Naples."  This  little  work,  a  tissue  of  gross  false- 
hoods, took  the  same  form  as  the  "Memoires"  which  the 
Duchesse  de  Mazarin  had  just  published  in  collaboration 
with  Saint-Real,  and  this  gave  it  a  false  appearance  of 
authenticity,  and  caused  it  to  command  a  ready  sale. 
It  had  been,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  inspired,  if  not  actually 
written,  by  Marie's  enemy,  the  Marques  de  los  Balbases, 
with  the  intention  of  injuring  the  poor  lady  still  further 
in  public  estimation.^  A  copy  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Constabless,  who,  in  high  indignation,  at  once  set  to 
work  on  the  compilation  of  her  genuine  Memoirs, 
which  appeared  under  the  title  of  "  La  Verite  dans  son 
jour.'  The  publication  of  this  work,  which,  unfortunately, 
does  not  go  beyond  the  year  1677,  assisted  by  the 
version  of  it  which  Bremont  published  in  Belgium, 
called  the  "  Apologie  ou  les  Veritables  Memoires  de 
Marie  de  Mancini,  Connetable  Colonne,"  did  much  to 
counteract  the  evil  effect  of  the  apocryphal  Memoirs  ; 
but  unhappily  the  latter  had  a  considerable  start,  and 
continued  to  be  accepted  by  many  persons  as  from  the 
Constabless's  own  pen. 

1  British  Museum  MSS. 

-  This  is  the  opinion  of  the  latest  and  best-informed  of  Marie's  French 
biographers,  Lucien  Perey;  but  M.  Chantelauze,  though  acknowledging 
that  the  first  part  is  undoubtedly  spurious,  expresses  his  belief  in  the 
authenticity  of  the  second,  which,  however,  he  thinks  was  never  intended 
for  publication,  and  owed  its  appearance  to  some  person  to  whom  the 
Constabless  had  been  so  indiscreet  as  to  lend  the  manuscript. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  347 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1677,  Carlos  II  decided 
to  recall  his  half-brother,  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  from  his 
exile  at  Saragossa,  to  which  the  jealousy  of  the  Queen- 
Dowager  had  relegated  him,  to  entrust  him  with  the 
chief  share  in  the  government  of  his  kingdom.  "  It 
was  at  this  moment,"  writes  the  Constabless,  "  that  I 
saw  appear  a  ray  of  hope,  and  remembering  that  Padre 
Ventimiglia,  whose  capabilities  and  rare  talents  had 
rendered  him  as  illustrious  as  the  nobility  of  his  birth, 
had  told  me  an  infinitude  of  times  that  my  liberty  must 
be  the  work  of  this  prince,  and  that  his  return  would 
undoubtedly  give  it  me,  I  considered  seriously  about 
taking  advantage  of  an  event  so  favourable,  not  doubt- 
ing that  it  would  produce  the  effect  for  which  I  had 
been  led  to  hope." 

In  the  belief  that  her  unhappy  lot  could  not  fail  to 
appeal  to  the  generous  and  chivalrous  Don  Juan,  not- 
withstanding the  way  in  which  she  had  treated  his  jester 
Capitor,  during  the  prince's  visit  to  the  French  Court 
in  1659,  the  Constabless  could  not  bring  herself  to 
await  his  arrival  in  Madrid,  and  no  sooner  was  she  in- 
formed that  he  had  quitted  Saragossa,  than  she  resolved 
to  go  and  meet  him.  Accordingly,  one  fine  day,  she 
succeeded  in  effecting  her  escape,  for  the  second  time, 
and  made  her  way  to  the  house  of  the  Marquesa  de 
Mortara,  sister-in-law  of  the  abbess  of  the  convent 
which  she  had  just  quitted.  The  marchioness,  overcome 
with  astonishment  at  this  visit,  received  her  unwelcome 
guest  very  courteously,  but  lost  no  time  in  writing  to 
inform  Don  Garcia  de  Ledra,  the  President  of  the 
Council  of  Castile,  of  what  had  occurred ;  while,  on  her 
side,  Marie  wrote  to  several  grandees,  begging  them  to 
assist  her  to  carry  out  her  intention.  Two  days  later,  the 
Nuncio,  the  Admiral,  and  the  President  of  the  Council 


348  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

came  to  visit  her,  bearing  the  King's  order  for  her  to 
return  to  the  convent.  The  Constabless  angrily  refused, 
upon  which  her  visitors  gravely  informed  her  that  they 
were  authorised  to  employ  force,  if  necessary  ;  and  the 
Marquesa  de  Mortara,  adding  her  entreaties  to  their 
persuasions,  the  Constabless  "  condescended  to  return." 
This  return  was  not  easy,  and  the  intervention  of  the 
Nuncio  and  a  peremptory  order  from  the  King  were  re- 
quired to  compel  the  now  exasperated  nuns  to  receive 
their  penitent. 

A  week  later,  Don  Juan  arrived  in  Madrid,  and  the 
Constabless  lost  no  time  in  addressing  to  him  a  memorial 
reciting  her  woes  and  imploring  him  to  redress  them. 
Don  Juan  was  about  to  grant  her  petition,  when  the 
King  received  a  letter  from  Colonna,  complaining  of  the 
recent  flight  of  his  wife,  and  begging  that,  for  greater 
security,  she  should  be  imprisoned  in  a  fortress.  Don 
Juan  thereupon  laid  both  the  memorial  and  the  letter 
before  the  Council,  which  finally  decided  that  Marie 
should  be  set  at  liberty  and  allowed  to  take  up  her  resi- 
dence in  a  house  suitable  to  her  rank.  As,  however, 
the  King  judged  it  best  to  suspend  the  decree  of  the 
Council  until  he  had  received  an  answer  to  a  letter 
which  he  had  addressed  to  the  Constable,  the  lady  lost 
patience,  made  her  escape  from  the  convent  for  the 
third  time,  and  proceeded  to  Ballecas,  a  village  a  league 
from  Madrid.  The  Nuncio  and  Don  Ferdinando  pur- 
sued her,  and  persuaded  her  to  return  to  the  capital  ; 
but,  though  she  was  not  sent  back  to  the  cloister,  the 
Council  decided  that,  instead  of  being  allowed  to  occupy 
a  house  of  her  own,  she  must  reside  in  one  with  Don 
Ferdinando. 

Six  months  later,  the  Constable  Colonna  was  appointed 
Viceroy  of  Aragon  by  Don  Juan,  who  had  need  of  his 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  349 

Influence  and  that  of  his  friends  in  his  struggle  against 
the  party  of  the  Queen-Dowager.  To  please  the  Con- 
stable, who  had  been  much  irritated  by  the  permission 
accorded  his  wife  to  leave  her  convent,  and  in  the  hope 
of  reconciling  them,  the  prince  begged  Marie  to  return 
to  her  cloister,  in  order  that  her  husband  might  find 
her  there  on  his  arrival  at  Madrid.  She  consented, 
declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that  she  would  not  remain 
there  more  than  three  months.  However,  it  was  not 
until  the  beginning  of  November  1678,  that  Colonna 
reached  Madrid,  accompanied  by  his  three  sons  and  a 
party  of  his  household.  On  the  day  of  his  arrival,  he 
visited  the  convent  of  San  Domingo-el-Real,  where  he 
and  his  wife,  according  to  the  Gazeta  de  Madrid,  "ex- 
changed the  most  lively  demonstrations  of  joy  and 
reciprocal  affection,  which  caused  one  to  hope  more 
and  more  for  their  approaching  reunion." 

How  far  these  demonstrations  of  affection  were  sin- 
cere is  difficult  to  say,  but  it  would  appear  that,  thanks 
to  the  efforts  of  the  Nuncio,  Marie  was  now  better  dis- 
posed towards  her  husband  than  she  had  been  for  a  long 
time.  She  refused,  however,  to  live  with  him  or  ac- 
company him  back  to  Roiix^  when  he  returned  thither, 
but  consented  to  follow  him  to  Saragossa  and  enter  a 
convent  there,  on  the  distinct  understanding,  however, 
that  she  was  to  be  allowed  to  go  out  two  or  three  times 
a  week. 

However,  the  Pope,  who  had  been  appealed  to, 
declined  to  grant  her  this  permission,  and,  learning, 
about  the  same  time,  that  her  husband  had  brought  with 
him  to  Saragossa  a  desperate  character  named  Resta, 
who  had  fled  from  Rome  to  escape  the  punishment  of 
his  crimes,  she  became  convinced  that  the  Constable 
intended  to  employ  this  person  to  carry  her  off  to  Italy 


350  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

and  perhaps  assassinate  her  on  the  way,  and  absolutely 
refused  to  leave  Madrid. 

The  death  of  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  on  17  December 
1679,  removed  a  friend  upon  whose  powerful  pro- 
tection she  had  always  been  able  to  rely.  But  the 
marriage  of  Charles  II  with  Marie  Louise  d'Orleans, 
daughter  of  Monsieur  and  Henrietta  of  England,  in- 
spired her  with  fresh  hope,  since  she  could  not  doubt 
that  the  daughter  of  a  prince  who,  thanks  to  the 
Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  had  always  defended  her  in- 
terests, would  sympathise  with  her  misfortunes. 

The  young  Queen  made  her  entry  into  Madrid  on 
13  January  1680,  with  all  the  pomp  usual  in  such 
circumstances. 

"  The  Queen-Mother,"  writes  Madame  d'Aulnoy, 
"  went  in  the  morning  to  Buen-Retiro,  which  she  left, 
some  time  later,  in  company  with  the  King.  They  went 
together  to  see  all  the  streets  through  which  the  Queen 
was  to  make  her  progress,  and  took  up  their  position  at 
the  house  of  the  Condesa  de  Onate,  in  a  balcony  made 
for  the  purpose,  and  having  a  lattice-window  gilded  all 
over.  About  eleven,  the  Queen,  mounted  on  horse- 
back, and  those  who  were  to  precede  her  began  to  march, 
and  passed  through  a  marble  gate,  which  had  been  but 
lately  erected.  The  kettledrummers  and  the  trump- 
eters of  the  city,  habited  in  the  costumes  usually  worn 
in  these  ceremonies,  led  the  procession  ;  after  them 
came  the  Alcaldes,  the  nobility,  and  the  knights  of  the 
three  military  Orders  (St.  James,  Calatrava,  and  Alcant- 
ara), the  gentlemen  of  the  King's  Household,  the  high 
officials  of  the  Queen's,  and  the  grandees  of  Spain, 
followed  by  a  great  number  of  lackeys,  whose  different 
liveries,  gallooned  with  gold  and  silver,  made  an  agree- 
able diversity.     The  Queen's  equerries  marched  on  foot 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  351 

before  her,  the  Conde  de  Villa  Mayana,  her  chief 
gentleman-usher,  was  on  her  right  hand,  and  she  was 
surrounded  by  her  gentlemen-in -waiting  and  her 
pages  (When  she  walked  on  foot,  she  always  leaned  on 
one  of  these).  The  Duquesa  de  Terranova  and  Dona 
Laura  de  Alagon  followed  her,  both  of  them  mounted 
on  their  mules  and  in  their  widow's  weeds,  which  some- 
what resemble  the  costume  of  nuns,  except  that,  when 
on  horseback,  they  wear  enormous  hats,  which  are  not 
less  unsightly  than  the  rest  of  their  garb.  Next,  we 
saw  the  Queen's  maids-of-honour,  all  very  beautiful  and 
richly  dressed  ;  they  were  on  horseback,  and  each  was 
escorted  by  her  relations,  in  the  midst  of  whom  she 
rode  ;  then  came  several  beautiful  horses,  led  by  grooms 
in  rich  liveries.  In  the  Prado,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  walks  in  Madrid,  by  reason  of  the  fountains 
which  water  it,  a  gallery  open  on  every  side  had  been 
erected,  with  one-and-twenty  arches,  to  which  were 
affixed  the  Arms  of  the  several  kingdoms  under  the 
dominion  of  Spain.  The  Queen  found,  at  the  end  of 
the  gallery,  a  triumphal  arch,  very  magnificent  and  well 
designed,  through  which  she  entered  the  city.  The 
Corrigidors  and  the  Rigidors,  apparelled  in  scarlet  and 
gold  brocade  such  as  the  Castilians  wear,  presented  her 
with  the  keys  of  the  city,  and  with  a  canopy,  which 
they  carried  over  her  head  during  the  procession.  The 
streets  were  adorned  with  the  richest  tapestries,  and  the 
precious  stones  that  were  to  be  seen  in  the  Goldsmiths' 
Row  were  valued  at  eleven  million.^ 

^  Another  account  says:  "On  each  side  of  the  street  was  a  row  of 
great  angels  made  of  pure  silver.  One  saw  there  shields  of  gold,  on 
which  were  inscribed  the  names  of  the  King  and  Queen,  with  tlie  Arms 
formed  of  pearls,  rubies,  diamonds,  and  other  precious  stones,  of  such 
richness  and  beauty  that  the  connoisseurs  declared  that  they  were  worth 
more  than  twelve  million." 


352  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

"  It  would  take  too  much  time  to  describe  all  the 
magnificence  of  that  day,  and  I  shall  therefore  confine 
myself  to  saying  that  the  Queen  was  mounted  on  a  fine 
Andalusian  horse,  which,  in  this  noble  march,  seemed 
proud  to  carry  so  beautiful  and  great  a  princess. 
Her  gown  was  so  covered  with  embroidery  that  its 
material  was  completely  hidden  ;  she  wore  on  her  head 
white  plumes  blended  with  red,  and  a  pearl  called  there 
the  *  Peregrina,'  which  is  as  big  as  a  small  Catherine 
pear  and  is  of  inestimable  value,  hung  below  a  clasp  of 
diamonds  which  decorated  her  hat.  She  wore  on  her 
finger  the  great  diamond  of  the  King,  which,  so  they 
assert,  surpasses  in  beauty  anything  that  was  ever  set  in 
a  ring.  But  the  graceful  deportment  of  the  Queen  in 
all  her  actions,  and  particularly  in  the  management  of 
her  horse,  and  the  charm  of  her  person  made  a  greater 
lustre  than  all  the  precious  stones  she  wore,  although  it 
is  certain  that  people  were  well-nigh  dazzled  by  the 
glitter  of  them.  She  halted  below  the  balcony  of  the 
Condesa  de  Oilate  to  salute  the  King  and  Queen- 
Mother.  They  opened  the  lattice  about  four  fingers' 
breadth,  in  order  to  see  her,  and  the  King,  taking  his 
handkerchief  in  his  hand,  carried  it  several  times  to  his 
lips,  his  eyes,  and  his  heart,  which  is  the  most  gallant 
action  that  a  Spaniard  can  perform.  The  Queen  con- 
tinued her  way,  and  the  King  and  the  Queen-Mother 
received  her  in  the  court  of  the  Palace.  He  assisted 
her  to  alight,  while  the  other,  taking  her  by  the  hand, 
conducted  her  to  her  apartments,  where  she  embraced 
her  repeatedly,  telling  her  that  she  was  but  too  happy  to 
have  such  an  amiable  daughter-in-law."^ 

Before  the  departure  of  the  Constable  for  Saragossa, 
Marie    had   expressed   a   desire    to   leave    her    convent 

1  *'  Memoires  de  la  Cour  d'Espagne." 


I   M.IIUF.  l.orisK  n'oi'j  F.  /w 
'■      CJ  f'Hrtii-ifftt/'  .'/ri/ir  Sti/iird , 


/iA.  ■>  St.   1 )  KSP-iO\K 

)('Frnnrt'J)iic  i-  Oi-Luiu.i , 


o'/ip,  C/i.jr/ej;  ZfFnrla  Cracr  l)e 2)/eti  Roy  Cafholiijiw  %J  f^fJdc/iu 


From  ail  engraving  by  L'Armessin 

MARIE    LOUISE    DORLKAXS,    OUKKN   OF   SPAIN 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  353 

and  spend  a  few  days  at  the  house  of  his  brother-in-law, 
the  Marques  de  los  Balbases,  in  order  to  witness  this 
pageant.  The  Constable,  somewhat  to  her  surprise, 
did  not  raise  the  least  objection,  and  she  was  still  more 
puzzled  at  the  warmth  of  the  welcome  which  awaited 
her  at  Balbases's  house.  Finding  herself  so  well  re- 
ceived, she  resolved  to  remain  there  until  the  return  of 
her  husband  from  Saragossa.  But,  two  days  before  the 
entry  of  the  Queen,  she  received  warning,  from  one  of 
her  friends,  that  Balbases  had  arranged  with  Colonna  to 
have  her  seized  and  carried  off  to  Saragossa.  On 
learning  this,  she  asked  for  a  coach  in  order  to  go  for 
a  drive,  and,  on  its  arrival,  directed  the  coachman  to 
take  her  to  the  French  Embassy. 

"  Yesterday,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,"  writes 
the  Ambassador's  wife,  Madame  de  Villars,  *'  we  saw 
enter  our  room  a  tapada^^  followed  by  another,  who 
appeared  to  be  her  attendant.  I  made  a  sign  to  M.  de 
Villars  that  it  was  for  him  to  do  the  honours  ;  the 
attendant  retired.  The  other  signified  her  desire  that 
some  persons  who  were  in  the  ante-chamber  should 
retire  also  ;  she  went  to  a  window  with  M.  de  Villars, 
at  the  same  time  making  a  sign  to  me  to  approach. 
She  raised  her  cloak  ;  but  I  was  but  little  the  wiser, 
though  I  had  some  recollection  of  a  person  who 
resembled  her.  M.  de  Villars  exclaimed:  *  It  is  the 
Constabless  Colonna,'  upon  which  I  paid  her  some 
compliments.  She  wept  and  besought  us  to  have  pity 
upon  her.  To  describe  her  appearance  in  a  few  words, 
her  shape  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  ;  her  corsage 
d  VEspagnoky  which  does  not  conceal  her  shoulders 
either  too  much  or  two  little.  Two  long  tresses  of 
black  hair  tied  with  a  beautiful  flame-coloured  ribbon  ; 

^  A  woman  who  conceals  her  face  with  a  mantilla  or  a  veil. 


354  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

the  rest  of  her  hair  in  disorder  and  badly  combed  ; 
very  beautiful  pearls  round  her  neck  ;  ^  an  agitated 
manner,  which  would  not  become  any  one  else,  but 
which,  for  her,  seemed  rather  natural  ;  beautiful  teeth." 

The  Ambassador,  in  great  embarrassment,  for  the 
lady  had  announced  her  intention  of  remaining  at  the 
Embassy  until  she  was  forcibly  ejected,  started  off  for 
Balbases's  house  "to  find  some  way  out  of  the  difficulty." 
It  was  suggested  that  the  Constabless  should  retire  to 
her  convent ;  but  the  nuns  absolutely  refused  to  receive 
her,  and  the  other  convents  followed  suit.  "  I  was 
obliged,"  writes  M.  de  Villars  to  Louis  XIV,  "to 
summon  the  Nuncio  and  some  ladies  among  her 
friends,  and,  after  a  long  and  difficult  negotiation, 
which  lasted  until  midnight,  we  have  brought  her  back 
with  her  own  consent  to  the  marquis's  house." 

A  few  days  later,  by  order  of  the  King,  the  Consta- 
bless was  sent  to  a  convent  of  Franciscan  nuns  at 
Cien-Puzuales,  some  five  leagues  from  Madrid.  Here 
she  remained  for  a  month,  when  Colonna  returned  to 
the  capital,  and  she  was  brought  back  and  installed  in 
her  external  apartment  at  the  Convent  of  San  Domingo- 
el-Real,  "  where  the  Constable  went  every  day  to  con- 
verse with  her  in  her  parlour,  and  to  pay  her  attentions 
such  as  a  lover  might  pay  to  his  mistress."" 

These  attentions  on  the  part  of  the  Constable  were 
not  without  an  ulterior  object.  He  desired  to  obtain 
his  wife's  consent  to  transfer  part  of  the  dowry  which 
Mazarin  had  given  her  to  their  eldest  son  Filippo,  Prin- 
cipe di  Palliano,  for  whom  he  desired  to  arrange  a 
marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the  Spanish  Prime 
Minister,   the  Duque   de  Medina  Coeli.     After  some 

1  Presumably,  the  pearls  given  her  by  Louis  XIV. 

2  Madame  d'Aulnoy,  "Memoires  de  la  Cour  d'Espagne." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  355 

hesitation,  Marie  agreed  to  what  was  demanded  of  her, 
thanks  to  which  the  marriage  was  decided  on,  and  the 
Constabless  quitted  the  convent  and  went  to  reside  at 
her  husband's  palace,  each  of  them  occupying  a  separate 
floor. 

For  the  first  time  for  several  years,  Marie  now 
enjoyed  the  fullest  liberty,  visiting  and  receiving  whom 
she  pleased,  and  going  regularly  to  pay  her  court  to  the 
Queen,  who  treated  her  with  the  utmost  kindness.  In 
September  1680,  the  Constable  returned  to  Saragossa, 
leaving  his  wife  in  his  palace  at  Madrid.  Soon  after- 
wards, she  was  officially  informed  that  the  King  had 
decided  to  interfere  no  more  in  her  affairs,  and  that 
nothing  remained  for  her  but  to  obey  her  husband  and 
go  wherever  he  might  desire  her,  whether  to  Italy  or 
elsewhere.  The  next  day,  she  was  forbidden  to  leave 
the  house,  the  following  one,  to  receive  any  visitors. 
Beside  herself  with  fear,  for  the  sinister  figure  of  the 
Constable's  myrmidon  Resta  was  for  ever  before  her 
eyes,  she  besought  his  Majesty  to  shut  her  up  in  the 
most  austere  convent  in  Madrid  rather  than  deliver  her 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  her  husband.  But  her  petition 
was  ignored,  although,  thanks  to  the  intercession  of  the 
young  Queen,  the  King's  orders  were  not  immediately 
executed. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  Constabless  declared  that  she 
would  refuse  to  sign  the  contract  by  which  a  consider- 
able part  of  her  fortune  was  to  be  assured  to  the  Prin- 
cipe di  Palliano,  and  would  make  the  hospitals  of  the 
city  her  heirs.  This  sudden  resolution  greatly  alarmed 
the  Duque  de  Medina  Coeli  and  his  family ;  they  appealed 
to  the  Nuncio,  who  had  great  influence  over  Marie, 
promising  that  the  King  should  continue  to  afford  her 
his  protection,  and  that  she  should  be  treated  with  every 


356  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

possible  consideration,  if  she  would  but  renounce  the 
decision  at  which  she  had  just  arrived.  The  princess 
eventually  yielded,  but,  in  return  for  this  concession, 
obtained  an  audience  of  the  Queen,  who,  in  response 
to  her  appeal,  exacted  from  the  Duque  de  Medina  Coeli 
his  word  of  honour  that  during  her  absence  at  the 
Escurial,  for  which  she  was  about  to  set  out,  no 
violence  should  be  employed  against  the  Constabless. 
A  few  days,  however,  after  the  Queen's  departure,  the 
duke  and  Balbases,  thinking  the  opportunity  too  good 
a  one  to  be  lost,  obtained  an  order  from  the  Junta, 
whom  Carlos  II  had  ordered  to  decide  upon  the  differ- 
ences between  the  Constabless  and  her  husband,  to  have 
the  lady  shut  up  in  a  fortress. 

One  night,  Marie,  reassured  by  the  promise  which 
had  been  made  her,  was  sleeping  peacefully,  when  she 
was  awakened  by  a  loud  knocking  at  the  door,  and  the 
voice  of  Don  Garcia  de  Medrano,  Councillor  of  the 
Royal  Council,  informed  her  that  he  had  come  with  an 
order  from  the  King  to  convey  her  to  the  Alcazar  of 
Segovia.  She  declined  to  open  to  him,  upon  which  the 
councillor  ordered  the  officers  who  accompanied  him 
to  force  the  door,  which  speedily  yielded  to  their 
assault  upon  it.  One  of  the  invaders  roughly  seized 
the  Constabless  and  prepared  to  tie  her  arms  with  a 
cord.  Marie  resisted  desperately,  and,  snatching  up  a 
little  knife  which  lay  upon  a  table  hard  by,  gave  him  a 
cut  in  the  hand.  Upon  which,  the  rest  of  the  company 
"  fell  upon  her  with  barbarous  fury,  and  dragged  her  by 
the  hair  of  her  head,  half  naked  as  she  was,  like  one  of 
the  most  abandoned  of  her  sex,"  to  a  coach  in  which  sat 
Don  Ferdinando  Colonna,  who  had  not  dared  himself  to 
assist  in  the  outrage,  and  carried  her  off  to  the  Alcazar 
of  Segovia. 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS  357 

In  the  Alcazar  of  Segovia  the  unfortunate  lady  re- 
mained for  nearly  four  months,  in  the  closest  confine- 
ment, seeing  no  one  but  the  Queen's  confessor  and  the 
kind-hearted  Nuncio.  To  add  to  her  misfortunes,  the 
winter  was  an  extremely  severe  one,  and,  in  her  bare 
and  draughty  room,  the  Constabless  suffered  terribly 
from  the  cold  ;  while  the  food  served  to  her  was  of  the 
poorest  quality  and  abominably  cooked. 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  the  miserable  condition 
of  the  princess,  of  which  the  Queen's  confessor  and  the 
Nuncio  did  not  fail  to  bring  back  a  faithful  report  to 
the  capital,  had  begun  to  excite  the  greatest  indignation 
in  Madrid  ;  the  Queen  sent  a  vigorous  remonstrance  to 
the  Constable,  and  the  latter,  finding  the  opinion  of  the 
Court  against  him,  proceeded  to  make  to  his  wife  the 
most  extraordinary  proposition.  He  would  consent,  he 
informed  her,  to  her  returning  to  some  convent  in 
Madrid,  but  on  condition  that,  on  the  very  day  on  which 
she  entered  it,  she  should  assume  the  dress  of  a  novice, 
and,  three  months  later,  take  the  vows.  He,  on  his 
side,  also  engaged  to  enter  Orders  and  become  a  monk. 

As  the  Constabless  had  not  the  least  inclination  for 
the  religious  life,  every  one  was  persuaded  that  she 
would  refuse  even  to  consider  such  an  offer.  But, 
anxious  at  any  price  to  escape  from  Segovia,  she  accepted 
it,  though  she  was  absolutely  determined  to  die  rather 
than  make  profession.  She  returned  to  Madrid  on 
15  February  168  i,  and  entered  at  once  the  Convent  of 
the  Conception,  in  a  state  of  the  most  profound  dejec- 
tion. She  declined  to  see  her  husband,  but  had  an 
interview  with  her  sons,  to  whom  she  said  that  "  she 
esteemed  herself  the  most  unfortunate  person  in  the 
world,  and  that  she  was  about  to  take  a  step  which  would 
ruin  the  rest  of  her  life,  and  the  consequences  of  which 


358  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

she  regarded  with  terror,  but  that,  since  she  had  passed 
her  word,  she  was  resolved  upon  it." 

*' The  Constabless  Colonna,"  writes  Madame  de 
Villars,  "arrived  early  on  Saturday.  She  entered  the 
convent  ;  the  nuns  received  her  at  the  door  with  tapers 
and  all  the  ceremonial  which  is  usual  on  such  occasions  ; 
then  she  was  conducted  to  the  choir,  where  she  assumed 
the  dress  [of  a  novice]  with  a  very  modest  demeanour 
.  .  .  the  dress  is  pretty  and  rather  coquettish,  the 
convent  commodious."^ 

A  few  days  later,  a  brief  arrived  from  Innocent  XI, 
whereby  his  Holiness  permitted  "  Lorenzo  Onofrio 
Colonna,  Grand  Constable  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
and  Marie  Mancini  Colonna,  Duchessa  di  Tagliacozzo, 
in  order  to  appease  the  controversies  and  discussions 
which  existed  between  them,  and  to  enable  them  to  pass 
the  rest  of  their  lives  more  tranquilly,  and  to  assure  the 
salvation  of  their  souls,  to  embrace  both  of  them  by 
common  accord  and  mutual  consent  the  religious  life  ; 
she  in  some  monastery  of  the  town  of  Madrid,  and  he  in 
one  of  the  religious  orders  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John 
of  Jerusalem."  And  his  Holiness  further  permitted  the 
said  Marie  Mancini  Colonna,  in  consideration  of  her 
being  of  mature  years  and  having  already  spent  long 
years  in  convents,  the  "  privilege "  of  abridging  her 
novitiate. 

To  Lorenzo  Colonna  the  obliging  Pontiff  also  granted 
certain  privileges,  permitting  him  to  dispense  with  the 
usual  vows  of  chastity  and  poverty  and  the  obligation 
of  making  pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Land,  so  that  all  the 
religious  profession  of  the  Constable  consisted  in  wear- 
ing the  Grand  Cross  of  his  Order. 

Marie,  needless  to  say,  did  not  avail  herself  of  his 

1  Letter  of  February  1 68 1. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  359 

Holiness's  gracious  permission  to  abridge  her  novitiate ; 
Indeed,  she  absolutely  refused  to  take  the  vows,  and 
filially  declined  even  to  appear  in  her  religious  costume, 
"but  wore  petticoats  of  gold  and  silver  brocade  under  her 
woollen  robe,  threw  aside  her  veil,  and  arranged  her  hair 
k  PEspagno/e  with  ribbons  of  all  colours.  Sometimes  it 
happened  that  she  was  summoned  to  an  observance 
which  she  was  compelled  to  attend.  Then  she  resumed 
her  robe  over  her  ribbons  and  hair,  which  fell  in  curls 
over  her  shoulders  ;  this  had  a  very  pleasing  effect."^ 

But  the  effect  upon  the  good  Sisters  of  the  Convent 
of  the  Conception  was  the  very  reverse  of  pleasing. 
They  were  unutterably  shocked  ;  but  to  complain  was 
useless.  The  Queen  had  conceived  the  greatest  affection 
for  the  Constabless,  and  visited  her  constantly  ;  the  King 
was  entirely  under  his  consort's  influence  ;  the  Nuncio 
was  Marie's  devoted  friend.  As  for  the  Constable,  he 
had  played  his  last  card  and  lost ;  he  ignored  his  wife — 
if  a  monk  can  be  said  to  have  a  wife — and  troubled  her 
no  longer. 

Unheard  of  privileges  were  granted  to  the  lady,  who 
was  still  nominally  supposed  to  be  preparing  herself  to 
become  the  bride  of  Heaven.  She  went  for  long  drives 
in  carriages  sent  her  by  the  Queen  ;  she  received  all 
manner  of  people  ;  she  visited  the  Court,  where  she  was 
welcomed  most  graciously  by  Carlos  II,  who  seemed 
anxious  to  atone  to  her  for  the  severity  with  which  she 
had  been  treated  in  his  name. 

At  length,  however,  the  long-suffering  nuns  revolted  ; 
and,  in  the  early  spring  of  1686,  the  Constabless's  old 
enemy  Balbases  succeeded  in  so  disquieting  the  con- 
science of  the  good  abbess  that,  one  day  when  her 
novice  had  left  the  convent  to  attend  a  magnificent  fete 
^  Madame  d'Aulnoy,  "  Mcmoires  de  la  Cour  d'Espagne." 


36o  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

given  by  the  Admiral  of  Castile  to  the  King  and  the 
two  queens,  she  refused  to  permit  her  to  return,  and 
informed  her  that,  since  she  appeared  to  find  the  wicked 
world  so  pleasant  a  place,  she  had  better  remain  in  it 

"Deeply  offended  by  this  refusal,  which  was  rery 
galling  for  a  person  of  her  quality  and  merit,"  says 
Madame  d'Aulnoy,  "she  set  her  friends  to  employ  their 
influence  with  the  King,  who  sent  orders  to  the  abbess 
to  open  her  doors  to  the  Constabless.  The  abbess  and 
all  the  nuns  persisted  in  their  refusal,  announced  that 
they  intended  to  present  their  reasons  to  his  Majesty, 
and  were  coming  to  demand  an  audience  of  him." 
When  Carlos  II  was  informed  of  this,  he  burst  out 
laughing  and  exclaimed  :  *  I  shall  be  very  much  amused 
to  see  this  procession  of  nuns  who  should  come 
chanting — 

Libera  nos,  Domine,  de  la  Condestabile.' 

The  nuns  did  not  come,  however,  but  decided  to  obey 
his  Majesty's  orders."^ 

The  Marques  de  los  Balbases  did  not  fail  to  inform 
the  Vatican  of  this  incident,  representing  that  force  had 
been  employed  to  compel  the  reluctant  nuns  to  receive 
the  Constabless.  But,  to  his  intense  mortification,  the 
only  result  of  his  interference  was  that  the  Pope,  wisely 
concluding  that  the  most  effectual  means  to  put  a  stop 
to  such  scandals  was  to  set  the  lady  at  liberty,  ordered 
her  to  leave  the  convent  and  forbade  her  to  enter 
another.  Shortly  afterwards,  the  Constable,  who  knew 
that  there  was  no  likelihood  of  the  King  consenting  to  a 
second  sojourn  of  his  wife  in  the  Alcazar  of  Segovia, 
decided  to  make  a  virtue  of  necessity,  and  consented  to 
her  being  accorded  complete  liberty,  a  decision  which 

1  Madame  d'Aulnoy,  "  Memoires  de  la  Cour  d'Espagne." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  361 

greatly  pleased  every  one  concerned,  with  the  exception 
of  the  malignant  Balbases,  who  could  not  forgive  him- 
self for  having  been  the  involuntary  cause  of  the  Con- 
stabless's  restoration  to  freedom. 

But  let  us  leave  Marie  in  the  enjoyment  of  her 
hardly  won  liberty,  and  see  what  had  become  of  her  two 
sisters  who  had  remained  at  the  Court  of  France. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

The  Poison  Trials  in  France — The  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  and  the  Com- 
tesse  de  Soissons  compromised — The  magician  Lesage  accuses  Madame 
de  Bouillon  of  attempting  to  get  rid  of  her  husband — Her  trial — She 
is  acquitted,  but  exiled  to  Nerac — The  Comtesse  de  Soissons  and 
la  Voisin — Louvois  and  Madame  de  Montespan  conspire  to  ruin  the 
countess — Louis  XIV  connives  at  her  escape  from  justice — Her  last 
evening  in  Paris — She  flies  to  Flanders — Letter  of  Louvois  to  the 
President  of  the  Chambre  Ardente — Hostile  reception  which  Madame 
de  Soissons  meets  with  in  Flanders — An  extraordinary  story — She 
takes  up  her  residence  in  Brussels — Marriage  of  her  eldest  son  to 
Mile,  de  la  Cropte-Beauvais — Early  life  of  Eugi^ne  de  Savoie. 

T70R  six  years  after  Marie's  second  departure  from 
France  the  lives  of  Olympe  and  Marianne  were 
comparatively  uneventful.  In  1673,  the  former  lost  her 
husband,  who  died  rather  suddenly  in  Champagne, 
while  on  his  way  to  join  the  army  under  Turenne  in 
Germany.  M.  de  Soissons's  death  gave  rise  to  sinister 
rumours,  and  the  countess's  enemies  —  and  she  had 
many  and  powerful  ones — did  not  hesitate  to  ascribe 
it  to  poison  administered  by  an  agent  of  his  wife.  But, 
since  the  count  had  always  been  the  most  devoted 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  complacent  of  husbands, 
and  her  accusers  were  unable  to  attribute  any  satisfactory 
reason  for  such  a  crime,  the  charge  would  appear  to 
have  been  entirely  without  foundation,  even  in  view  of 
the  facts  which  we  shall  presently  relate. 

In    March    1679,    the    countess    was    requested    by 
Louis  XIV  to  resign  her  post  of  Superintendent  of  the 

362 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  363 

Queen's  Household,  which  was  bestowed  upon  Madame 
de  Montespan.  This  has  been  represented  by  some 
writers  as  a  kind  of  disgrace  ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
had  no  such  significance.  Madame  de  Montespan  had 
endeavoured  to  prevail  upon  the  King  to  appoint  her  to 
the  office  in  question  some  years  before  ;  but  Louis  had 
had  sufficient  consideration  for  his  unfortunate  consort 
to  spare  her  this  last  humiliation.  When,  however, 
early  in  1679,  ^^^  Majesty  transferred  his  affections  to 
Mile,  de  Fontanges,  and  his  illicit  connection  with  the 
marchioness  terminated,  the  former  objections  dis- 
appeared, and,  with  the  idea  of  tempering  the  wind  to 
the  shorn  lamb,  and,  at  the  same  time,  proclaiming  to 
the  world  that  all  was  at  an  end  between  them,  he 
resolved  to  gratify  her  ambition.  "  On  Wednesday 
[21  March],"  writes  Bussy-Rabutin,  "the  Comtesse 
de  Soissons  received  the  King's  command  to  resign  her 
post  [as  Superintendent  of  the  Queen's  Household]. 
The  princess  in  question  was  at  Chaillot,  in  a  little 
house  which  she  has  there.  M.Colbert  was  continually 
passing  to  and  fro.  In  the  evening,  she  spoke  to  the 
King  in  the  Queen's  apartments,  and  he  complimented 
her  highly  upon  the  satisfaction  which  she  had  given 
her  Majesty.  She  replied  with  all  the  respect  imagin- 
able, and,  finally,  she  has  accepted  200,000  ecus  ;^  and 
Madame  de  Montespan  has  in  this  way  become  Super- 
intendent of  the  Queen's  Household,  and  is  no  longer 
mistress.^ 

Of  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  during  this  period  we 
hear  little.     In  1675,  the  duke's  family  persuaded  him 

*  Presumably  petits  icus  of  3  livres,  which,  as  Mazarin  had  given 
ajOjOoo  livres  for  this  office  in  1660,  would  represent  a  very  handsome 
profit. 

^ Correspondance  de  Bussy-Rabutin  IV.,  35^. 


364  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

to  send  his  wife  to  the  Couvent  de  Montreuil,  "to  give 
her  an  opportunity  for  salutary  reflections."  It  would 
appear  that  the  too  pronounced  encouragement  given  by 
the  lady  to  the  advances  of  the  handsome  Comte  de 
Louvigny,  younger  son  of  the  marshal  of  that  name, 
which  had  occasioned  a  good  deal  of  scandal  and  some 
piquant  couplets,  was  the  cause  of  this  retirement. 
However,  her  exile  only  lasted  a  very  short  time,  and 
she  returned  to  Court  with  spirits  unaffected  by  con- 
ventual life  and  more  amused  than  any  one  at  her 
misadventure.  She  resumed  her  former  role  of  patroness 
of  the  poets,  and  became  an  assiduous  frequenter  of  the 
Hotel  de  Vendome  and  the  Temple,  where  the  duke 
(afterwards  the  famous  marshal)  and  the  Grand  Prieur 
de  Vendome,  sons  of  her  eldest  sister  Laure,  held  high 
revel  with  their  intendant  the  Abbe  de  Chaulieu.  The 
two  brothers,  particularly  the  elder,  seem  to  have 
cherished  for  their  charming  aunt  feelings  a  good  deal 
warmer  than  their  relationship  warranted,  and  though 
happily  this  passion  did  not  terminate  in  a  tragedy  as 
that  of  the  Chevalier  de  Soissons,  youngest  son  of 
Olympe,  for  his  aunt  Hortense,^  if  any  reliance  is  to 
be  placed  in  the  evidence  given  before  the  Chambre 
Ardente,  of  which  we  are  now  about  to  speak,  it  was 
certainly  not  the  fault  of  the  duchess. 

So  far  back  as  the  year  1673,  the  penitentiaries  of 
Notre-Dame — without,  of  course,  mentioning  any  names 
— had  warned  the  police  that  the  majority  of  women  who 
had  confessed  to  them  for  some  time  past  accused  them- 
selves of  poisoning  some  one.  This  warning,  strange 
to  say,  does  not  appear  to  have  made  much  impression 
upon   the   authorities,    and    even    the    famous   case   of 

1  See  p.  398  infra. 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  365 

Madame  de  Brinvilliers,  in  1677,  the  prelude  to  the 
grisly  drama  which  was  about  to  send  a  thrill  of  horror 
through  Europe,  left  them  still  unmoved.  Apparently, 
they  inclined  to  the  belief  that  the  crimes  of  this  fiendish 
woman  were  merely  such  as  occur  from  time  to  time 
even  in  the  best-regulated  communities,  and  were  not  to 
be  regarded  as  in  any  way  typical  of  the  state  of  public 
morality. 

However,  towards  the  close  of  1678,  the  authorities, 
roused  at  last  from  their  lethargy  by  the  discovery  of 
a  supposed  plot  to  poison  the  King  and  the  Dauphin, 
and  led  by  the  able  and  fearless  Gabriel  Nicolas  de 
la  Reynie,  Lieutenant  of  Police,  became  exceedingly 
active;  and  some  indiscreet  words  dropped  by  a  woman 
called  Marie  Bosse  led  to  her  arrest  and  that  of  another 
woman  named  Vigoureux.  On  10  January  1679,  ^^ 
Order  in  Council  was  issued,  directing  La  Reynie  to 
proceed  against  these  women  and  their  accomplices  ; 
and,  two  months  later,  the  police  effected  the  arrest  of 
the  abominable  monster  la  Voisin,  one  of  the  greatest 
criminals  known  to  history. 

The  state  of  affairs  which  the  confession  of  this 
woman  and  her  accomplices  brought  to  light  was  the  most 
appalling  that  the  imagination  can  possibly  conceive. 
"Human  life  is  publicly  trafficked  in,"  wrote  the  Lieu- 
tenant of  Police.  "  Death  (by  poison)  is  almost  the 
only  remedy  employed  in  family  embarrassments  ;  im- 
pieties, sacrileges,  abominations  are  common  practices  in 
Paris,  in  the  surrounding  country,  in  the  provinces." 

The  consternation  of  the  authorities  on  discovering 
that  such  frightful  crimes  were  rampant  in  their  midst 
was  unbounded.  Louis  XIV  shared  the  general  horror 
and  indignation,  and  gave  orders  that  no  stone  should 
be  left  unturned  to  bring  the  offenders  to  justice  ;  and, 


366  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

with  the  view  of  avoiding  the  cumbersome  proceedings 
of  the  ordinary  courts,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of 
ensuring  greater  secrecy,  a  special  commission  was 
appointed,  composed  of  the  dite  of  the  Councillors  of 
State,  presided  over  by  Louis  Boucherat,  afterwards 
Chancellor,  with  La  Reynie  and  Bazin  de  Bezons,  of  the 
Academy,  as  examining  commissioners. 

This  court  was  called  the  Chambre  Ardente,  not,  as 
some  writers  have  supposed,  because  it  had  power  to 
condemn  persons  to  the  stake,  though  that  was  among 
its  prerogatives  and  was  exercised  in  the  case  of  la 
Voisin,  but  because,  in  former  days,  tribunals  specially 
constituted  to  deal  with  extraordinary  crimes  sat  in  a 
chamber  hung  with  black  and  lighted  by  torches  and 
candles.^ 

The  Chambre  Ardente  met  for  the  first  time  in  the 
hall  of  the  Arsenal  on  lo  April  1609,  and  on  15  May 
sentenced  to  death  Madame  Philbert,  wife  of  the  fashion- 
able flutist  of  that  name,  convicted  of  having  made  away 
with  her  first  husband,  a  wealthy  wholesale  tradesman 
named  Brunet,  with  poison  procured  from  Marie  Bosse. 
The  hope,  however,  aroused  in  the  breasts  of  lovers  of 
justice  by  this  rigorous  sentence  was  not,  unhappily, 
destined  to  be  realised,  and  disgraceful  miscarriages  of 
justice  occurred  in  the  cases  of  Madame  Dreux,  the  wife 
of  a  maitre  des  requetes,  a  lady  of  great  beauty  and  of 
"  infinite  charm  and  distinction,"  who  was  convicted  of 
having  poisoned  at  least  three  persons,  and  of  having 
offered  la  Voisin  "  2,000  ecus,  a  ring,  and  a  diamond 
cross  to  make  away  with  her  husband  " ;  and  of  Madame 
Leferon,  found  guilty  of  having  poisoned  her  husband, 
the  President  of  the  first  Cour  des  Enquetes^  in  order  to 
enable   her   to    marry   a  worthless   adventurer    named 

1  "Le  Mercure  Galant,"  1679,  p.  336. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  367 

de  Prade,  for  whom  she  had  conceived  a  violent  passion.^ 
Soon  the  affair  began  to  assume  alarming  proportions. 
The  operations  of  the  sorceresses  and  poisoners  had 
been  by  no  means  confined  to  the  bourgeoisie  and  the 
professional  classes ;  the  Court  was  equally  besmirched  ; 
members  of  the  noblest  families  in  France  were  impli- 
cated, and,  among  them,  were  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon 
and  her  sister,,  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons. 

One  of  the  principal  accomplices  of  la  Voisin^  was  a 
man  who  called  himself  Lesage  ;  his  real  name  was 
Adam  Coeuret,  and  he  appears  to  have  been  at  one  time 
a  wool  merchant,  a  calling  which,  however,  he  soon 
abandoned  for  the  more  profitable  one  of  a  magician. 
He  had  a  remarkable  talent  for  jugglery,  by  means  of 
which  he  duped  not  only  the  people  who  came  to  avail 
themselves  of  his  art,  but  even  the  witches  with  whom 
he  worked.  One  of  his  favourite  tricks  was  to  make 
his  clients  write  requests  to  the  "Spirit" — as  the  devil 
was  called — in  notes,  which  he  then  enclosed  in  balls  of 
wax  and  pretended  to  throw  into  the  fire.  Some  days 
later,  he  would  give  them  back  their  notes,  saying  that 
the  "Spirit,"  who  had  received  them  through  the  flames, 
had  returned  them. 

In  his  examination  before  the  commissioners  on 
28  October  1679,  Lesage  stated  that  he  had  met  the 
Duchesse  de  Bouillon  at  la  Voisin's  house,  and  that 
"  that  lady,  having  told  him  that  she  was  aware  that  he 
could  ensure  the  success  of  anything  that  she  might 
desire,"  after  some  conversation,  he  told  her  to  write 
down  her  requests,  which  she  did,  and  he  saw  that  she 

1  Ravaisson,  "Archives  de  la  Bastille,"  VI. 

2  La  Voisin,  when  questioned  about  her  relations  with  Madame  de 
Bouillon,  brought  no  charge  against  her,  merely  stating  that  the  duchess 
had  visited  her  house  out  of  curiosity. 


368  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

demanded  the  death  of  the  Due  de  Bouillon,  her  husband, 
and  to  marry  the  Due  de  Vendome,  who  was  with  her 
at  the  time  she  wrote  the  note.  After  this,  Madame  de 
Bouillon  and  M.  de  Vendome  obliged  him  to  come  to 
the  Hotel  de  Bouillon,  where  he  pretended  to  throw  a 
second  note  into  the  fire,  as  he  had  done  the  first  ;  and 
the  lady,  "wishing  to  engage  him  still  further  to  do 
what  she  demanded  in  regard  to  her  husband,  brought 
a  bag,  containing  a  number  of  gold  pieces,  which  she 
tried  to  induce  him  to  ^ccept."  But  he  refused  to  take 
more  than  four  pistoles,  ind,  though  the  duchess  had 
come  several  times  to  see  nim,  he  had  always  avoided 
her,  "  not  wishing  to  have  any  dealings  with  her." 

This  charge  sounds  puerile  enough  to  us,  though  it 
was  not  so  regarded  at  that  time,  when  belief  in  magic 
and  witchcraft  was  almost  universal,  and  even  such  men 
as  Bossuet  were  firmly  persuaded  of  the  efficacy  of 
sorcery.  But,  in  a  second  examination,  Lesage  made  a 
far  graver  accusation  against  the  duchess.  This  was  to 
the  effect  that  Madame  de  Bouillon  had  only  had  re- 
course to  his  magic  after  other  means  had  failed,  since 
la  Vigoureux  had  told  him  that  the  lady  had  applied  to 
her  for  poison  to  get  rid  of  her  husband  ;  but  that,  as 
the  dose  with  which  she  had  supplied  her  had  failed  to 
take  effect,  she  had  advised  her  to  consult  Lesage. 

The  evidence  against  the  Duchess  of  Bouillon  was 
considered  so  serious  that  the  Chambre  Ardente,  which 
had  no  power  to  arrest  any  one  on  its  own  authority, 
applied  for  a  lettre  de  cachet  for  her  apprehension,  which 
was  granted  by  the  King,  and,  after  being  kept  under 
arrest  at  her  own  house  for  some  weeks,  the  duchess 
was  brought  to  trial  on  29  January  1680.  Perhaps 
fortunately  for  her,  la  Vigoureux — who  would,  of  course, 
have  been  the  principal  witness  against  her — had  died 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  369 

under  torture  some  time  before  Lesage's  examination, 
and  the  knowledge  of  this  fact  no  doubt  accounted  for 
the  haughty  tone  which  the  lady  thought  fit  to  assume 
towards  her  judges. 

Madame  de  Bouillon  proceeded  to  the  Arsenal,  sup- 
ported, on  one  side,  by  the  Due  de  Vendome,  and,  on  the 
other,  by  the  husband,  against  whose  life  she  was  accused 
of  conspiring,  while  a  crowd  of  the  nobility  followed  to 
show  their  sympathy.  She  entered  the  court  "  like  a 
little  queen,"  sat  down  on  a  chair  that  had  been  placed 
for  her,  and,  instead  of  replying  to  the  first  question, 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  enter  a  formal  protest  against  the 
authority  of  the  Chambre,  declaring  that  "  she  had  only 
attended  out  of  deference  to  the  King's  command,  and 
not  for  that  of  the  court,  which  she  did  not  recognise, 
as  she  declined  to  allow  any  derogation  to  the  ducal 
privilege.^  She  refused  to  answer  any  questions  until 
this  had  been  taken  down  by  the  clerk  of  the  court. 
Then  she  removed  her  glove  and  "  disclosed  a  very 
beautiful  hand,"  and  the  examination  began. 

"  Do  you  know  la  Vigoureux  ? " 

"No." 

"  Do  you  know  la  Voisin  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Why  did  you  want  to  do  away  with  your  husband  ?" 

"  I  do  away  with  my  husband  !  Why,  you  have  only 
to  ask  him  if  he  thinks  so  !  He  gave  me  his  hand  to 
this  very  door  !  " 

"But  why  did  you  go  so  often  to  la  Voisin's  house.?" 

"  I  wanted  to  see  the  Sibyls  and  prophetesses  she 
promised  to  show  me.  Such  a  company  would  have 
been  well  worth  all  my  journeys." 

^  The  ducal  privilege  consisted  in  being  tried  by  all  the  courts  united 
in  the  Parliament. 

2    B 


370  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Then,  after  denying  that  she  had  ever  shown  la  Voisin 
a  bag  full  of  money,  she  inquired  with  a  mocking  and 
disdainful  air  : 

"  Well,  Messieurs,  is  that  all  you  have  to  say  to  me?" 

"  Yes,  Madame,"  was  the  reply  :  upon  which  the 
duchess  rose  and  left  the  court,  remarking  as  she  did 
so  :  "  Really,  I  should  never  have  believed  that  men  of 
sense  could  ask  so  many  foolish  questions." 

Such  is  the  amusing  account  given  of  Madame  de 
Bouillon's  examination  by  Madame  de  Sevigne.^  But 
the  records  of  the  court  show  that  the  accused  was 
subjected  to  a  very  close  examination  in  regard  to  her 
dealings  with  Lesage.  She  confirmed  what  that  worthy 
had  stated  about  his  interview  with  her  at  la  Voisin's 
house  and  his  visit  to  the  Hotel  de  Bouillon  ;  but  abso- 
lutely denied  that  she  had  asked  him  to  assist  her  to  get 
rid  of  her  husband,  or  that  she  had  given  him  a  note  to 
burn  containing  such  demands.  However,  this  charge 
was  of  small  importance  in  comparison  with  her  alleged 
dealings  with  the  poisoner  la  Vigoureux,  and,  as  no 
further  evidence  was  forthcoming  in  regard  to  that 
matter,  the  duchess  was  acquitted.  She  did  not,  how- 
ever, escape  altogether,  as  Louis  XIV,  hearing  that  she 
had  had  the  temerity  to  boast  of  having  baffled  the 
judges,  exiled  her  to  Nerac  ;  nor  was  she  allowed  to 
return  to  Paris  for  some  considerable  time. 

Far  less  fortunate  than  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  was 

1  Letter  of  31  January  1680.  Voltaire,  in  his  "  Siecle  de  Louis 
XIV,"  relates  an  amusing  passage  of  arms  between  the  duchess  and  La 
Reynie,  in  which  the  latter  got  decidedly  the  worst  of  the  encounter. 
"  Did  you  ever  see  the  devil  at  la  Voisin's  house,  since  you  went  there  to 
meet  him  ?"  inquired  the  Lieutenant  of  Police.  "Monsieur,"  replied  the 
lady,  "  I  see  him  here  at  this  very  moment.  He  is  disguised  as  a  judge, 
and  very  ugly  and  villainous  he  looks."  The  questioner  proceeded  no 
further. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  371 

her  elder  sister  Madame  de  Soissons.  After  a  con- 
fession made  by  la  Voisin  on  9  October  1679,  the 
examining  commissioners,  La  Reynie  and  Bazin  de 
Bezons,  drew  up  the  following  report  : — 

"  She  [la  Voisin]  declared  to  us  that  the  Comtesse  de 
Soissons,  feeling  somewhat  aggrieved  because  the  King 
had  neglected  her  and  no  longer  appeared  to  have  any 
kindness  for  her,  was  one  day  at  her  house,  in  company 
with  Madame  de  la  Fert6  and  Mile,  du  Fouilloux,-'  who 
appeared  to  have  not  long  recovered  from  the  small- 
pox ;  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  without  saying 
who  she  was,  made  her  [Voisin]  go  into  her  garden, 
where  the  lady  gave  her  her  hand  to  look  at,  after 
examining  which,  she  told  her  that  she  saw  there  a  solar 
line,  which  was  strongly  defined,  and  showed  that  she 
must  have  been  loved  by  a  great  prince.  Upon  that,  the 
Comtesse  de  Soissons  asked  her  abruptly  if  that  would 
not  return.  She  replied  that  it  might  possibly  return  ; 
but  the  lady  rejoined  that  it  was  very  necessary  that  it 
returned,  and  that  she  absolutely  declined  to  be  made  a 
dupe  of,  and  spoke  to  her  on  the  subject  of  La  Valli^re 
as  being  the  cause  of  the  aversion  which  the  King 
appeared  to  have  for  her,  and  demanded  the  means  of 
getting  rid  of  Mile,  de  la  Valliere, 

'*  And  when  she  [la  Voisin]  told  her  that  that  would 
be  a  very  difficult  matter,  the  lady  replied  passionately 

^  As  la  Voisin  never  seems  able  to  remember  dates,  it  is  often  very 
difficult  to  fix  even  approximately  the  time  at  which  the  events  she  speaks 
of  occurred.  But  she  gives  du  Fouilloux  the  title  of  demoiselle,  so  that 
the  visit  of  that  lady  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  to  her  house  must  have 
occurred  previous  to  January  1667,  when  the  former  became  the  wife  of 
the  Marquis  d'Alluye.  Moreover,  the  countess  expresses  herself  in  her 
interview  with  la  Voisin  with  an  indignation  which  would  appear  to  indi- 
cate a  comparatively  recent  grievance,  and  we  shall  therefore  probably  not 
be  far  wrong  in  dating  the  incident  during  the  early  years  of  La  Valliere'a 
"  reign,"  probably  after  the  failure  of  the  Spanish  letter  plot. 


372  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

that  she  would  certainly  find  a  means,  and  that,  if  she 
were  unable  to  avenge  herself,  she  would  carry  her 
vengeance  further  and  would  spare  nothing.  But,  on 
that,  she  [la  Voisin]  told  her  that  it  was  necessary  to 
bide  her  time  for  the  satisfaction  which  she  desired,  and 
not  to  do  anything  inopportunely.  And  she  was  not 
aware  until  after  the  conversation,  and  when  the  lady 
was  going  away,  that  it  was  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  to 
whom  she  had  spoken  ;  and  it  was  Mile,  du  Fouilloux 
who  informed  her  of  the  fact,  at  the  time  when 
Mesdames  de  la  Fert6  and  du  Fouilloux  were  leaving 
her  house.  She  believed  herself  obliged  to  say  also  that 
she  was  not  aware  if  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  per- 
severed or  not  in  her  design,  and  that  she  did  not  see 
her,  except  on  that  one  occasion." 

On  1 6  January  1680,  la  Voisin  was  interrogated,  by 
La  Reynie  and  Bazin  de  Bezons,  at  Vincennes,  in  regard 
to  her  relations  with  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  when 
she  confirmed  the  statements  she  had  made  in  her  con- 
fession. 

Asked  if  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  did  not  tell  her 
the  means  she  proposed  to  employ  to  avenge  the  wrong 
she  had  suffered,  she  replied  that  the  lady  only  declared 
that  "she  would  destroy  both  [the  King  and  La  Valliere]." 

Asked  if  it  were  true  that  she  had  had  constant 
relations  with  Madame  de  Soissons,  and  had  visited  her 
at  her  hotel,  she  replied  that  she  had  never  seen  the 
countess,  save  on  the  occasion  mentioned. 

Questioned  as  to  whether  Madame  de  Soissons  had 
applied  to  any  one  else  to  further  her  designs,  she 
answered  that,  so  far  as  she  was  aware,  she  had  not.^ 

"The  examinations  to  which  la  Voisin  was  subjected," 
says  M.  Funck-Brentano,  in  his  admirable  work  on  the 
1  "  Archives  de  la  Bastille,  VI  :  Interrogatoire  de  la  Voisin." 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  373 

Poison  Trials,  "were  very  numerous.  They  brought 
out  innumerable  details  on  a  multitude  of  crimes,  in 
which  a  very  large  number  of  persons  were  implicated. 
The  declarations  of  the  terrible  sorceress  were  submitted 
to  careful  investigation  by  examining  magistrates  like 
Nicolas  de  la  Reynie.  All  her  declarations  were  found  to 
be  accurate} 

That  Madame  de  Soissons  did,  therefore,  visit  la 
Voisin,  indulge  in  threats  against  the  King  and  La 
Valliere,  and  demand  "means  to  get  rid  of"  the  latter 
is  practically  certain  ;  that  she  ever  obtained  the  "means" 
she  sought,  either  from  la  Voisin  or  any  one  else,  much 
less  actually  attempted  to  put  her  criminal  design  into 
execution,  is  highly  improbable. 

However  that  may  be,  the  admissions  of  la  Voisin 
brought  the  countess's  career  at  the  French  Court  to 
a  sudden  and  sensational  termination.  She  had,  as 
we  have  mentioned,  powerful  enemies.  Madame  de 
Montespan,  not  yet  herself  implicated  in  this  terrible 
affair,^  hated  her,  as  she  had  hated  every  one  for  whom 
the  King  had  shown  any  predilection.  Louvois  hated 
her,  too,  because  she  was  the  friend  of  Colbert,  and  also, 
if  the  lady  herself  is  to  be  believed,  because  she  had  re- 
fused to  give  her  daughter  in  marriage  to  his  son.  The 
two  conspired  together  to  ruin  her,  as,  ten  years  before, 
they  had  conspired  to  ruin  the  Due  de  Lauzun  ;  and 
they  succeeded. 

But  Louis  XIV  did  not  wish  the  countess  to  be  pro- 
ceeded against.  This  reluctance  was  due  less  probably 
to  consideration  for  the  woman  who  had  been  the  play- 

^  "  Le  Drame  des  Poisons." 

2  For  a  full  account  of  Madame  de  Montespan's  connection  with  the 
poisoners,  see  M.  Funck-Brentano's  "  Le  Drame  des  Poisons  "  and  the 
author's  "  Madame  de  Montespan  "  (London  :  Harpers  ;  New  York  : 
Scribners,    1903). 


374  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

mate  of  his  childhood  and  the  mistress  of  his  youth, 
than  to  the  fear  that  his  own  dignity  might  be  com- 
promised by  a  trial  which  would  have  involved  the 
public  discussion  of  royal  frailties  which  would  not  bear 
the  light.  When,  therefore,  the  Chambre,  urged  on  by 
Louvois,  demanded  her  arrest — together  with  that  of  her 
friend  and  confidante,  Madame  d'AUuye — we  have  men- 
tioned that  the  Court  had  no  power  to  arrest  any  one  on 
its  own  authority — the  King  delayed  sending  the  neces- 
sary warrant  for  three  days,  and,  in  the  meanwhile,  des- 
patched her  brother-in-law,  the  Due  de  Bouillon,  to 
the  Hotel  de  Soissons  to  offer  the  countess  her  choice 
between  the  Bastille  and  exile. 

"On  Wednesday  she  was  playing  at  bassette,"^  writes 
Madame  de  Sevignd  ;  "  M.  de  Bouillon  entered  ;  he 
begged  her  to  step  into  her  cabinet,  and  told  her  she 
must  leave  France  or  go  to  the  Bastille.  She  did  not 
hesitate  ;  she  made  the  Marquise  d'Alluye  leave  the 
card-table,  and  they  did  not  reappear.  The  hour  for 
supper  arrived.  It  was  said  that  the  countess  was  sup- 
ping in  town.  Every  one  went  away,  persuaded  that 
something  extraordinary  was  happening.  In  the  mean- 
time, a  great  deal  of  packing  went  on.  They  took 
money  and  jewellery  ;  the  lackeys  and  coachmen  re- 
ceived orders  to  put  on  their  grey  justaucorps  ;  eight 
horses  were   harnessed    to    her  coach.     She   made  the 

1  Madame  de  Soissons  was  a  great  gambler.  During  the  campaign  of 
1678,  when  the  Court  accompanied  the  army  to  Flanders,  Colbert  de 
Saint-Pouange,  one  of  Louvois's  agents,  wrote  from  Lille  to  the  War 
Minister:  "The  day  before  yesterday  M.  de  L  an  glee,  who  kept  the 
bank,  lost  2,700  pistoles,  of  which  Madame  de  Montespan  and  the 
Comtesse  de  Soissons  won  a  considerable  part."  The  countess's  exploits 
in  this  direction  were,  however,  mere  bagatelles  in  comparison  with  those 
of  Madame  de  Montespan,  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  gamblers  who 
ever  lived,  and  was  accustomed  to  win  or  lose  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
livres  at  a  single  sitting. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  375 

Marquise  d'Alluye, — who,  it  is  said,  did  not  wish  to  go 
— enter  it  with  her,  and  two  waiting-women  took  their 
seats  in  front.  She  told  her  people  not  to  distress 
themselves  on  her  account,  as  she  was  innocent ;  but 
that  it  had  suited  those  scoundrelly  women  [la  Voisin 
and  her  accomplices]  to  mention  her  name.  She  was  in 
tears.  She  made  her  way  to  Madame  de  Carignan's 
hotel,  and  left  Paris  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning."' 

On  24  January,  the  day  after  the  countess's  flight, 
Louvois  wrote  to  Boucherat,  the  President  of  the 
Chambre  Ardente  : — 

"  The  King  has  sent  two  officers  of  his  guard  to 
arrest  Madame  la  Comtesse^  and  Madame  d'Alluye  ; 
they  have  orders  to  render  an  account  to  you  of  what 
they  may  do,  and  the  Chancellor  has  desired  that  one 
adds  to  their  instructions  that,  in  the  event  of  their  not 
finding  these  two  ladies,  they  should  inform  you  of  it 
and  return  with  the  ushers  whom  you  will  give  them  to 
make  a  formal  report  of  their  search  for  these  ladies, 
after  which  the  Chambre  will  be  able  to  commence  the 
proceedings  against  them  for  contumacy  which  it  may 
judge  proper.  These  same  officers  have  instructions  to 
leave  some  of  the  King's  guards  in  the  houses  of  these 
ladies,  if  you  deem  that  necessary."^ 

This  letter  was,  of  course,  merely  a  piece  of  minis- 
terial diplomacy  which  deceived  no  one,  either  in  the 
Chambre  or  at  the  Court  ;  but  Louvois  considered  it 
necessary,  in  order  to  conceal  from  the  general  public 
the  share  which  the  King  had  taken  in  the  escape  of  the 
two  ladies. 

1  Letter  of  30  January  1680. 

2  This,  as  we  have  said  elsewhere,  was  the  official  title  of  the  Comtesse 
de  Soissons,  just  as  the  wife  of  Monsieur  was  called  Madaiiie  and  the 
wife  of  the  Prince  de  Condc,  Madame  la  Princesse. 

«  "Archives  de  la  Bastille,"  VI. 


376  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

Madame  de  Soissons  having  crossed  the  Flemish 
frontier,  wrote  to  the  King,  offering  to  return  and  stand 
her  trial,  provided  that  she  was  not  subjected  to  the 
indignity  of  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille  or  at  Vin- 
cennes  before  her  case  was  adjudicated  upon.  The 
condition  was  refused  ;  her  trial  was  the  very  last  thing 
which  Louis  XIV  desired. 

She  continued  her  journey  towards  Brussels,  but  the 
news  of  the  charges  against  her  had  preceded  her,  and 
the  principal  inns  in  the  towns  and  villages  through 
which  she  passed  refused  to  receive  her  ;  and  on  more 
than  one  occasion  she  was  compelled  to  sleep  on  straw 
and  suffer  the  insults  of  the  populace,  which  reviled 
her  as  sorceress  and  poisoner.^  "  We  are  assured," 
writes  Madame  de  Sevigne,  "  that  the  gates  of  Namur, 
Antwerp,  and  other  towns  have  been  closed  against  the 
countess,  the  people  crying  out  :  *  We  want  no 
poisoners  here.'  Henceforth,  in  foreign  countries,  a 
Frenchman  and  a  poisoner  will  be  the  same  thing. "^ 

At  Brussels,  the  capital  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands, 
the  municipal  authorities  did  not  dare  to  shut  their 
gates  against  a  princess  connected  by  marriage  with 
the  Court  of  Madrid,  and  the  Comte  de  Monterey  took 
her  under  his  protection.  Nevertheless,  her  sojourn 
there  was,  at  first,  far  from  a  pleasant  one,  and  every 
time  she  ventured  out  she  was  assailed  by  the  vilest 
insults.  Madame  de  Sevign6  relates  an  extraordinary 
story,  which  she  had  from  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld, 
the  son  of  the  author  of  the  "  Maximes." 

1  According  to  Choisy,  Louvois  had  despatched  an  agent  to  Flanders, 
who  distributed  money  among  the  people  to  stir  them  up  against  the 
countess,  and  she  was  one  day  forced  to  spend  the  night  in  a  shop  where 
she  had  gone  to  buy  lace,  as  a  howling  mob  had  assembled  outside, 
threatening  to  tear  her  to  pieces. 

2  Letter  of  2 1  February  i68o. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  377 

"  One  day,  soon  after  her  arrival  at  Brussels,  Madame 
de  Soissons  went  to  church.  As  she  was  entering  the 
building,  she  was  recognised,  whereupon  a  number  of 
people  rushed  out,  collected  all  the  black  cats  they 
could  find,  tied  their  tails  together,  and  brought  them 
howling  and  spitting  into  the  porch,  crying  out  that 
they  were  devils  who  were  following  the  countess."^ 

Madame  de  Soissons,  however,  remained  at  Brussels, 
and  gradually  the  storm  which  had  been  raised  against 
her  subsided.  A  little  court  gathered  about  her,  and  as, 
in  spite  of  her  forty-two  years,  she  was  still  very  attrac- 
tive, she  did  not  lack  for  admirers,  prominent  among 
whom  was  the  Prince  of  Parma,  who,  towards  the  close 
of  the  year  1680,  succeeded  the  Comte  de  Monterey 
as  Governor  of  the  Netherlands. 

Two  years  after  her  flight  from  France,  Olympe 
learned  of  the  marriage  of  her  eldest  son,  the  young 
Comte  de  Soissons  ;  he  had  espoused  Mademoiselle 
de  la  Cropte-Beauvais,  one  of  the  second  Madame  s 
(Princess  Palatine)  maids-of-honour,  whom  Saint-Simon 
describes  as  "beautiful  as  the  most  beautiful  day,"'^  and 
who  had  had  the  distinction  of  having  repulsed  the 
advances  of  Louis  XIV.^ 

The  Comtesse  de  Soissons  and  her  mother-in-law,  the 
old  Princesse  de  Carignan,  were  furious  at  this  misal- 

^  Letter  of  20  February  1680. 

'  She  was  the  natural  daughter  of  an  equerry  of  the  Prince  de  Conde. 
According  to  Saint-Simon,  when  her  father  lay  on  his  death-bed,  the 
Prince  went  to  visit  him  and  entreated  him  to  marry  the  mother,  "  repre- 
senting the  position  in  which,  in  default  of  this  marriage,  he  would  leave 
so  beautiful  a  creature  as  his  daughter  ";  but  Beauvais  refused. 

3  The  Princess  Palatine  writes  •  "  I  had  a  Jille  d'honneur  named 
Beauvais.  She  was  a  very  honest  creature.  The  King  became  enamoured 
of  her,  but  she  remained  firm.  Then  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
Fontanges  girl,  who  was  also  very  pretty,  but  without  any  intelligence." 
"The  Fontanges  girl,"  as  all  the  world  knows,  did  not  long  remain 
obdurate. 


378  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

liance,  and  both  promptly  disinherited  the  poor  youth. 
Louis  XIV,  however,  showed  himself  more  indulgent 
towards  the  marriage,  and  gave  the  count  a  pension  of 
20,000  livres,  which,  though  sufficient  to  keep  him  from 
want,  was  quite  inadequate  to  enable  him  to  support 
his  position  as  a  Prince  of  the  Blood.  A  brave  soldier, 
like  his  father,  he  might,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
have  hoped  for  advancement  in  his  profession.  But 
Louvois,  who  hated  him,  for  his  mother's  sake,  refused 
him  promotion,  and  at  length,  in  disgust,  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  Emperor,  and  was  soon  afterwards  killed 
in  battle  against  the  Turks.  His  wife  retired  for  a  time 
to  a  convent  in  Savoy,  and  afterwards  returned  to  Paris, 
where  she  died  in  middle  life,  "  still  beautiful  as  the 
day,"  according  to  Saint- Simon,  She  had  several 
children,  all  of  whom  died  young. 

Olympe's  second  son,  Philippe  de  Savoie,  who  is 
described  by  the  Princess  Palatine  as  "  a  great  fool, 
ugly,  awkward,  and  always  with  a  wild  look  about  him, 
with  a  hawk-like  nose,  a  large  mouth,  and  hollow 
cheeks,"  and  her  third  son,  called  the  Chevalier  de 
Savoie,  both  died  at  a  comparatively  early  age — the  one 
from  small-pox,  the  other  through  an  accident.  Of  the 
youngest,  called  the  Chevalier  de  Soissons,  we  shall  have 
something  to  say  in  our  next  chapter. 

The  fourth  of  the  countess's  five  sons,  Eugene 
Maurice,  amply  atoned  to  her  for  the  misfortunes  of  his 
elder  brothers,  and  left  behind  him  a  name  which  will 
endure  for  all  time.  It  was  the  custom  in  noble  families, 
where  there  were  several  sons,  for  one  of  them  to  take 
Orders,  and  as  Eugene's  physique — he  was  very  short, 
very  slight,  and  a  little  crooked — seemed  to  unfit  him 
for  a  military  career,  his  mother  insisted  on  his  entering 
the    Church,  and   he  was  given   three  abbeys,  one  in 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  379 

France  and  two  in  Piedmont.  However,  the  youth, 
though  he  appears  to  have  been  an  intelligent  and 
industrious  student,  soon  discovered  that  he  had  no 
inclination  whatever  for  an  ecclesiastical  career,  and 
applied  to  Louvois  for  a  commission  in  the  army.  His 
request  was  harshly  refused,  and  Louis  XIV,  when 
appealed  to,  declined  to  interfere,  and  spoke  of  him  dis- 
dainfully as  "  the  little  abbe." 

After  the  peace  of  Nimeguen,  in  1678,  some  young 
noblemen,  the  Prince  de  Conti,  son  of  Anne  Marie 
Martinozzi  among  them,  went  to  serve  as  volunteers 
with  the  Austrians  against  the  Turks,  and  Eugene 
joined  them.  Certain  letters  addressed  by  one  of  their 
number  to  a  friend  at  Court,  in  which  his  Majesty  was 
referred  to  in  far  from  respectful  terms,-^  were  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  King,  who  sent  a  peremptory  order 
to  the  party  to  return.  Eugene,  however,  declined  to 
obey,  and  sent  word  that  he  had  decided  to  renounce 
France  and  enter  the  service  of  the  Emperor.  "  Ne 
trouvez-vous  pas  que  faie  fait  la  une  grande  perte  ? " 
observed  Louis,  with  a  contemptuous  smile,  to  those 
about  him,  when  he  received  the  news.  Little  did  he 
suspect  how  bitterly  he  would  live  to  regret  his  con- 
temptuous rejection  of  a  sword  which,  had  it  been  on 
his  side,  instead  of  against  him,  might  have  enabled 
him  to  remain  the  arbiter  of  Europe  to  the  end  of  his 
life  1  But  the  subsequent  career  of  Eugene  de  Savoie 
is  too  well  known  to  need  recapitulation  here. 

1  One  of  these  letters  contained  the  following  passage  :  "  Ouand  il 
[Louis  XIV]  faut  represcnter,  c'cst  un  roi  de  theatre  j  quand  il  faut 
combattre,  c'est  un  roi  d'echecs." 


CHAPTER   XX 

Madame  de  Soissons  leaves  Brussels  and  takes  up  her  residence  in  Madrid 
— Her  relations  with  her  sister  Marie — Her  intimacy  with  the  Queen 
— Antipathy  of  Carlos  II  to  her — Correspondence  between  the 
Comte  de  Rebenac,  French  Ambassador  in  Madrid,  and  Louis  XIV 
in  regard  to  the  countess — Carlos  II  convinced  that  Madame  de 
Soissons  has  bewitched  both  him  and  the  Queen — He  is  warned  that 
it  is  intended  to  poison  the  latter — Sudden  death  of  Marie  Louise 
— Suspicions  of  poisoning — Letter  of  Rebenac  to  Louis  XIV — 
Opinions  of  other  contemporaries — Saint-Simon  accuses  Madame  de 
Soissons  of  having  poisoned  the  Queen  in  a  glass  of  milk — Considera- 
tion of  this  charge — The  countess  is  ordered  to  leave  Madrid,  and 
goes  to  Portugal — She  returns  to  Brussels — Her  later  years  and  death. 

A  FTER  spending  some  time  in  Flanders,  the  Com- 
tesse  de  Soissons  appears  to  have  visited  Hamburg 
and  other  parts  of  western  Germany  ;  but  eventually 
returned  to  Brussels,  where  she  remained  until  the 
spring  of  1686.  She  made  great  efforts  to  obtain  per- 
mission to  return  to  France  ;  but  Louvois  had  treated 
her  too  badly  to  lend  himself  to  her  recall ;  while 
Madame  de  Maintenon  was  hardly  more  favourably 
disposed  towards  her  than  Madame  de  Montespan  had 
been  ;  and  so  she  remained  in  exile.  Early  in  1686, 
she  determined  to  leave  Brussels  and  take  up  her  resi- 
dence in  Madrid,  and  in  March  embarked  for  Spain. 
Her  reasons  for  this  step  are  somewhat  doubtful  ;  but, 
since,  during  her  residence  in  Flanders,  she  had  estab- 
lished friendly  relations  with  several  noble  Spanish 
families,  it  was  the  general  belief  that  her  object  was  to 

380 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  381 

arrange  an  advantageous  marriage  for  Eugene,  who 
accompanied  her,  and  for  whom  she  obtained  the  rank 
of  a  grandee  of  Spain. 

The  Constabless  Colonna,  who  soon  after  the 
countess's  arrival  regained  her  liberty,  expressed  at 
first  great  pleasure  at  seeing  her  sister,  and  there  was 
some  talk  of  their  living  together  in  the  same  house. 
But  the  unpleasant  side  of  Olympe's  character  soon 
began  to  assert  itself,  and  Marie,  discovering  that  she 
was  engaged  in  political  intrigues,  and  frequented  the 
society  of  several  persons  of  whom  she  strongly  dis- 
approved, went  to  live  in  a  house  adjoining  a  convent, 
and  communicating  with  it  by  means  of  a  private 
entrance,  which  permitted  her  to  retire  thither  when- 
ever she  felt  disposed. 

Madame  de  Soissons,  however,  was  well  received  by 
the  Queen,  with  whom  she  had  been  on  intimate  terms 
previous  to  the  latter's  marriage,  and  neglected  nothing 
to  ingratiate  herself  with  her  Majesty.  She  succeeded, 
for  Marie  Louise  clung  to  everything  which  reminded 
her  of  the  France  which  she  had  never  ceased  to  regret, 
though  the  superstitious  Carlos  II,  who  strongly  dis- 
approved of  the  intimacy  between  his  beloved  consort 
and  a  lady  who  had  been  the  associate  of  sorceresses, 
did  everything  possible  to  combat  the  Queen's  inclina- 
tion for  the  countess. 

Two  years  passed,  and  then  Madame  de  Soissons 
found  herself  threatened  with  expulsion  from  Spain. 
Under  date  7  October  1688,  the  Comte  de  Rebenac,  the 
French  Ambassador  at  Madrid,  writes  to  Louis  XIV : — 

"The  Comtesse  de  Soissons  has  been  the  cause  dur- 
ing the  last  fortnight  of  an  intrigue  of  considerable 
importance  at  this  Court.  The  King  of  Spain  was 
warned   against   her  ;   he  accused  her  of  sorcery,  and  I 


382  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

learn  that,  some  days  ago,  he  conceived  the  idea  that, 
had  it  not  been  for  a  spell  which  she  had  cast  over  him, 
he  would  have  had  children.  This  idea.  Sire,  troubled 
him  extremely,  and  he  made  a  brawl  which  had  taken 
place  between  the  Spaniards  and  Madame  de  Soissons's 
servants  the  pretext  of  intimating  to  her,  through  the 
Constabless  Colonna,  that  it  would  be  well  for  her  to 
retire  to  Flanders,  where  she  would  be  given  the  en- 
joyment of  the  estate  of  Terveuren  for  life.  She  did 
not  wish  to  defer  to  this  counsel,  and  it  was  believed 
that  the  taking  of  Belgrade,  the  first  news  of  which  has 
been  brought  here  by  a  gentleman  of  the  Chevalier  de 
Savoie,  will  cause  some  change  in  this  order.  Never- 
theless, the  Marques  de  los  Balbases  was  charged  to 
confirm  it.  Upon  that,  she  went  to  find  the  Queen, 
having  no  doubt  that  she  would  be  able  to  persuade  her 
to  espouse  her  cause  ;  but  that  princess  counselled  her, 
on  the  contrary,  to  accommodate  herself  to  the  wish  of 
the  King."^ 

The  countess,  however,  found  two  powerful  allies  in 
the  Graf  von  Mansfeld,  the  Austrian  Ambassador,  and 
the  Prime  Minister,  the  Conde  de  Oropesa,  a  warm 
friend  of  Austria,  whom,  says  Rebenac,  she  succeeded 
in  persuading  that  the  Queen  had  obtained  the  order 
for  her  expulsion  at  the  instance  of  Louis  XIV,  and 
through  their  intercession  she  was  permitted  to  remain 
in  Madrid. 

From  the  correspondence  between  the  Comte  de 
Rebenac  and  Louis  XIV,  it  is  evident  that  both  re- 
garded the  presence  of  Madame  de  Soissons  in  Madrid 
with  the  gravest  suspicion.  At  the  time  of  which  we 
are  speaking,  the  Court  of  Spain  was  divided  into  .two 

^  "  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrang^res,"  published  by  Amedee  Renee, 
"  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE    FAIR   SISTERS      .  383 

factions,  the  French  and  the  Austrian  ;  and  the  young 
Queen,  who  had  gained  a  great  ascendency  over  her 
feeble  husband,  was  striving  her  utmost  to  detach  him 
from  the  league  formed  on  all  sides  against  Louis  XIV. 
Her  task  was  a  difficult  one  ;  she  had  against  her  the 
Queen-Mother,  Mansfeld,  the  Prime  Minister,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Council  ;  and  Louis  XIV  did  not  doubt 
that  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  burning  with  resentment 
as  she  must  be  against  France  and  Its  King,  and  on 
intimate  terms  with  the  Ambassador  of  the  Emperor 
and  the  head  of  the  Austrian  party  In  the  Council, 
would  do  all  In  her  power  to  persuade  Marie  Louise  of 
the  hopelessness  of  her  efforts  on  his  behalf.  The 
Comte  de  Rebenac  received  instructions  to  keep  the 
closest  watch  upon  the  actions  of  the  countess,  and  to 
do  everything  possible  to  checkmate  her  influence,  and 
here  is  the  picture  which  he  gives  of  her  life  in  Madrid — 
a  cruel  contrast  Indeed  to  the  salon  of  the  Hotel  de 
Soissons  of  other  days  : — 

"  The  life  of  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  consists  In 
receiving  at  her  house  all  persons  who  desire  to  come 
there  from  four  o'clock  in  the  evening  up  to  two  or 
three  hours  after  midnight.  She  keeps  a  table  of  from 
ten  to  twelve  covers,  of  which  five  or  six  are  taken 
possession  of  by  as  many  professional  gormandizers 
[goinfres],  who  come  there  every  evening  without  fail, 
neither  play  nor  talk,  and  do  nothing  but  stuff  them- 
selves with  food,  there  being  no  nation  so  sober  as 
the  Spanish  at  home  nor  so  gluttonous  ;  it  Is  a  thing 
one  experiences  every  day  In  this  country.  The  rest  of 
the  company  Is  formed  of  a  score  of  persons  of  no  con- 
sideration, who  conduct  themselves  with  so  little  respect 
that  they  enter,  their  hair  tied  behind,  their  bucklers 
on    their    arms,   and    wearing    their    long    swords    and 


384  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

poniards.  There  is,  Sire,  everything  which  can  convey 
an  air  of  familiarity  and  contempt  for  the  house  of  a 
woman  of  quality.  Moreover,  no  great  nobleman 
appears  there,  or  very  seldom. 

"  Your  Majesty  will  have  the  goodness  to  pardon 
these  details.  I  only  give  them  because  I  believe  it  to 
be  my  duty  to  him  to  furnish  an  exact  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  lives  here.  .  .  . 
It  is,  moreover,  certain  that  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons's 
intelligence,  if  she  wishes  to  use  it,  would  enable  her  to 
ascertain  many  things  which  one  could  not  discover 
oneself.  I  shall  observe  her  very  closely,  and  will  do 
my  utmost  to  oppose  the  confidence  which  the  Queen 
of  Spain  might  perhaps  one  day  repose  in  her  again."^ 

To  this  letter  the  King  replied  : — 

"  I  approve  the  resolution  that  you  have  arrived  at 
not  to  hold  any  communication  with  the  Comtesse  de 
Soissons.  It  would  certainly  appear  that  the  manner  in 
which  she  conducts  herself  will  not  give  her  much 
influence  in  the  place  where  you  are,  and  that  will  do 
more  to  compel  her  to  withdraw  than  all  that  you  can 
do  to  send  her  away.  Endeavour,  notwithstanding,  to 
keep  yourself  always   well   informed  of  her  intrigues, 

1  Rebenac  to  Louis  XIV,  7  October  1688.  In  the  same  despatch, 
the  Ambassador  refers  to  Marie  in  these  terms  :  "  As  for  the  Constabless, 
she  is  here  in  a  little  convent,  which  she  leaves  whenever  she  feels  disposed. 
She  does  not  meddle  in  any  intrigues  ;  she  has  many  influential  friends, 
and,  although  she  has  not  quarrelled  with  her  sister,  the  Comtesse  de 
Soissons,  no  one  was  so  much  rejoiced  as  was  she  at  the  order  that  had 
been  given  the  latter  to  withdraw." 

In  subsequent  despatches,  the  Ambassador  speaks  frequently  to  the 
King  of  a  "  person  "  devoted  to  the  interests  of  France,  whom  he  often 
consults,  but  whose  name  he  does  not  mention.  And,  in  one  dated 
16  January  1689,  he  states  that  he  has  given  a  portrait  of  the  King  set 
with  diamonds  "  to  the  person  for  whom  your  Majesty  intended  it,"  and 
that  it  has  been  received  "with  respect  and  gratitude."  In  the  opinion  of 
Lucien  Perey,  there  can  be  no  question  that  this  mysterious  person  was  th* 
Constabless  Colonna. 


From  a  contemporary  print 

OLYMPE   MANCINI,   COMTESSE   DE   SOISSOXS 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  385 

in   order  to  give   on  this    subject  to  the    Queen   the 
counsel  most  conformable  to  her  interests."  ^ 

The  resentment  which  Marie  Louise's  refusal  to 
intercede  for  her  with  Carlos  II  had  occasioned  Madame 
de  Soissons  did  not  last  long,  and,  on  22  October, 
Rebenac  informs  Louis  XIV  that  the  "  Comtesse  de 
Soissons  is  reconciled  to  the  Queen,  and  has  expressed 
her  great  regret  for  having  unjustly  accused  her  of 
having  had  any  share  in  the  events  which  have  recently 
taken  place." 

Although  Carlos  II  had  allowed  himself  to  be  pre- 
vailed upon  to  withdraw  his  order  to  Madame  de 
Soissons,  he  remained  convinced  that  the  countess  was 
a  sorceress  of  a  peculiarly  dangerous  type,  and  that  the 
non-arrival  of  the  long-awaited  heir  to  his  throne  was 
due  to  a  spell  which  she  had  cast  over  his  consort  and 
himself.  All  his  efforts  were  now  directed  to  the 
raising  of  this  supposed  charm,  and  after  pilgrimages  to 
various  shrines  and  other  religious  exercises  recom- 
mended in  such  cases  had  proved  of  no  avail,  he  had 
recourse  to  the  services  of  a  Dominican  monk,  who 
professed  to  have  the  power  of  exorcising  evil  spirits. 
*'  The  ceremony  was  horrible,"  writes  Rebenac  to 
Louis  XIV,  after  many  apologies  for  shocking  his 
Majesty's  modesty,  ^^  car.  Sire,  le  roy  et  la  reyne  devoicnt 
estrc  deshabilles  tout  nuds^  On  its  conclusion,  it  appeared 
that  the  physicians  of  the  Court  were  called  in,  and 
the  unfortunate  Queen  had  to  submit  to  a  medical 
examination,  in  the  presence  of  the  monk,  "  in  order 
to  discover  if  the  charm  had  been  removed."  The 
Ambassador  expresses  the  opinion  that  this  affair  had 
been  concerted  by  the  Prime  Minister,  the  Conde  de 
Oropesa,  and  the  Austrian  faction,  with  the  object  of 

^   Letter  of  23  October  1688. 
2  c 


386  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

persuading  his  Majesty  that  the  Queen  had  been  be- 
witched previous  to  her  marriage,  and  obtaining  its 
dissolution.^ 

But  alas  !  a  far  worse  fate  than  sterility  was  in  store 
for  poor  Marie  Louise.  For  some  time  past,  Carlos  II 
had  received  repeated  warnings  that  it  was  intended  to 
poison  the  Queen,  and,  if  Madame  de  la  Fayette 
is  to  be  believed,  Marie  Louise  herself  was  convinced 
that  such  would  be  her  fate,  and  had  written  to  that 
effect  to  Monsieur^  who  sent  her  an  antidote.  The 
antidote,  however,  arrived  too  late.  On  9  February 
the  Queen  was  taken  suddenly  ill,  and  three  days  later, 
in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  her  physicians,  she  expired. 

Her  death  gave  rise  to  the  same  terrible  suspicions  as 
had  that  of  her  mother,  the  ill-fated  Henrietta  of 
England,  nineteen  years  before ;  but  whereas  the 
latter's  end  is  now  generally  believed  to  have  been 
due  to  natural  causes,"  Marie  Louise's  is  capable  of  no 
such  explanation,  and  the  belief  that  she  was  a  victim  of 
her  private  or,  more  probably,  her  political  enemies — 
the  latter  had  certainly  strong  reasons  for  desiring  her 
removal — is  the  opinion  of  nearly  all  the  best-informed 
of  her  contemporaries.  Let  us  listen,  however,  to  the 
account  of  the  affair  sent  by  Rebenac  to  Louis  XIV  : 

"The  courier  bears  to  your  Majesty  the  most  sad 
and  deplorable  of  all  news.  The  Queen  of  Spain  has 
just  expired,  after  three  days  of  colic  and  continual 
vomiting.  God  alone.  Sire,  knows  the  cause  of  so 
tragical  an  event.  Your  Majesty  will  have  been  made 
aware,  by  several  of  my  letters,  of  the  sad  forebodings 
I  entertained  in  regard  to  it. 

1  Despatch  of  23  December  1688. 

2  See  on  this  question  M.  Funck-Brentano's  admirable  study  in  his 
"Drames  des  Poisons." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  387 

"  I  saw  the  Queen  some  hours  before  her  death. 
The  King,  her  husband,  had  twice  refused  me  this 
favour  ;  she  asked  for  me  herself  with  so  much  insist- 
ence that  they  permitted  me  to  enter.  I  found.  Sire, 
that  she  had  all  the  signs  of  death  ;  she  recognised 
them  and  was  not  affrighted.  She  was  like  a  saint  as 
regards  God,  and  like  a  hero  as  regards  the  world. 
She  commanded  me  to  assure  you  that  she  was,  in 
dying,  as  she  had  been  throughout  her  life,  the  most 
faithful  friend  and  servant  that  your  Majesty  could 
have." 

According  to  the  Ambassador,  the  conduct  of  the 
Queen's  chief  physician,  Francini,  was  highly  suspicious. 
**  Since  the  death,"  he  continues,  "  he  has  avoided  me, 
and  I  have  not  seen  him  till  the  third  day,  although  I 
had  sent  several  times  to  seek  him.  I  know  further 
that  he  told  one  of  his  friends  that  it  was  true  that  at 
the  autopsy,  and  during  the  progress  of  the  malady,  he 
had  remarked  extraordinary  symptoms  ;  but  that  he 
would  lose  his  life  if  he  spoke  of  them. 

**  The  public  is  at  present  persuaded  that  she  was 
poisoned,  and  has  no  doubt  about  it ;  but  the  malignity 
of  this  people  is  such  that  many  persons  view  it  with 
approbation,  because  they  say  the  Queen  had  no  children, 
and  they  regard  the  crime  as  a  coup  cTEtat  which  has  their 
approval. 

"  I  demanded  to  be  present  at  the  autopsy,  or  at  least 
that  they  would  permit  me  to  send  physicians  and  sur- 
geons to  attend  it  ;  but  I  was  refused.  .  .  .  When  I 
saw  that  the  Queen  was  in  the  last  extremity,  I  left  the 
surgeons  and  other  persons  at  the  doors  of  her  apart- 
ment, in  order  that  they  might  take  advantage  of  the 
confusion  which  ordinarily  prevails  on  occasions  of  this 
kind,  to  enter  and  see  if  there  were  any  sign  on  the 


388  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

countenance  of  the  Queen  ;  but  every  precaution  was 
taken  to  prevent  any  one  from  entering.    .    .    . 

"  People  coming  from  Portugal  encountered  a  number 
of  couriers  on  the  way  before  even  the  Queen  was 
believed  to  be  in  any  danger  ;  this  circumstance  would 
indicate  communications  between  the  Conde  de  Oropesa 
and  Portugal. 

"At  the  commencement  of  the  malady  there  was  a 
great  effort  made  to  circulate  reports  that  the  Queen 
had  sustained  a  fall  from  horseback  and  had  ruptured 
a  vein  in  the  body  ;  and  that  she  had  partaken  of  a 
prodigious  quantity  of  oysters,  lemons,  and  iced  milk ; 
and  a  number  of  the  same  people  were  very  busy  in 
circulating  these  rumours.  However,  I  have  made 
inquiries  and  found  them  false.  It  is  not  true  that  she 
sustained  a  fall  from  horseback,  or  that  she  partook  of 
anything  unusual.  And  it  is  true.  Sire,  that  she  died 
in  a  very  horrible  manner." 

Rebenac  goes  on  to  inform  the  King  that  he  strongly 
suspects  the  Prime  Minister,  Oropesa,  and  Don  Eman- 
uel de  Lira,  another  leader  of  the  Austrian  faction,  as 
the  authors  of  the  crime,  and  that  the  Queen-Mother 
was  privy  to  it.  "The  Duquesa  d'Albuquerque,  lady- 
of-honour  to  the  Queen,"  he  writes,  "  has  behaved  in  so 
suspicious  a  manner  and  testified  such  joy,  at  the 
moment  even  of  the  Queen's  death,  that  I  cannot  but 
regard  her  with  horror  ;  and  she  is  the  devoted  creature 
of  the  Queen-Mother.^ 

Louville,  who  succeeded  Rebenac  as  French  Ambas- 

^  If  we  are  to  believe  Dangeau,  the  most  reliable,  if  the  dullest,  of  all 
contemporary  choniclers,  Louis  XIV  seems  to  have  been  firmly  convinced 
that  his  niece  had  died  from  the  effects  of  posion.  "The  King  said  at 
supper  :  '  The  Queen  of  Spain  has  been  poisoned,  in  an  eel-pie,  and  the 
Comtesse  de  Pernitz  and  the  maids-of-honour,  Zapada  and  Nina,  who 
partook  of  it  after  her,  are  dead  of  the  same  poison.' " 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  389 

sador  at  Madrid  two  months  later,  is  of  the  same 
opinion,  as  are  the  Princess  Palatine,  Monsieur  s  second 
wife.  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  and  Madame  de  la 
Fayette,  one  of  the  most  intimate  friends  of  the  family. 
But  neither  Rebenac  nor  any  of  the  writers  mentioned 
say  a  single  word  to  inculpate  Madame  de  Soissons  ; 
and  it  was  left  to  Saint-Simon,  who  went  as  Ambassador 
to  Madrid  thirty  years  later,  to  attribute  the  supposed 
crime  to  the  countess,  and  here  is,  in  brief,  what  he  says  : 
"The  Comte  de  Mansfeld  was  the  Ambassador  of 
the  Emperor  at  Madrid,  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons 
was  on  intimate  terms  with  him  from  the  moment  of 
her  arrival.  The  Queen,  who  longed  only  for  France, 
had  a  great  desire  to  see  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons. 
The  King  of  Spain,  who  had  heard  her  talked  about,  and 
who,  for  some  time  past,  had  been  the  recipient  of 
numberless  warnings  that  it  was  intended  to  poison  the 
Queen,  raised  every  conceivable  objection  before  con- 
senting to  it.  It  appears  that  in  the  end  the  countess 
came  occasionally  after  dinner  to  the  Queen's  apartments, 
by  a  secret  staircase,  and  saw  her  only  in  the  King's 
presence.  These  visits  redoubled,  and  always  with 
repugnance  on  the  part  of  the  King.  He  had  asked  of 
the  Queen,  as  a  favour,  never  to  taste  anything  that 
he  had  not  eaten  or  drunk  first,  because  he  was  well 
aware  that  it  was  intended  to  poison  her.  The  weather 
was  hot ;  milk  is  scarce  in  Madrid.  The  Queen  ex- 
pressed a  desire  for  some,  and  the  countess,  who  had 
gradually  usurped  brief  tete-h-tetes  with  her,  boasted  of 
some  that  was  excellent,  which  she  promised  to  bring  her 
in  a  glass.  It  is  asserted  that  it  was  prepared  at  the 
Comte  de  Mansfeld's  house.  The  Comtesse  de  Soissons 
brought  it  to  the  Queen,  who  swallowed  it  at  a  draught, 
and  died  shortly  afterwards." 


390  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

Saint-Simon  adds  that  the  countess,  for  whose  flight 
preparations  had  been  made,  quitted  the  palace  the 
moment  the  Queen  had  drunk  the  milk,  and  succeeded 
in  effecting  her  escape  from  Spain. 

Now,  what  reliance  are  we  to  place  in  this  accusation 
of  Saint-Simon  ?  We  are  inclined  to  think  little  or 
none.  If  any  real  suspicion  had  attached  to  the 
countess,  we  should  certainly  find  mention  of  it  in 
the  despatches  of  Rebenac  or  in  the  memoirs  of  the 
chroniclers  we  have  spoken  of :  all  persons  in  a  position 
to  learn  all  that  was  to  be  learned  about  the  tragedy. 
Moreover,  the  fact  is  now  well  established  that  Saint- 
Simon  never  hesitated  to  impute  all  kinds  of  crimes  to 
those  whom  he  disliked  on  the  flimsiest  of  evidence, 
and  not  infrequently,  we  suspect,  without  evidence  at 
all,  and  that  his  memoirs  teem  with  the  grossest  in- 
accuracies. 

And  what  had  the  countess  to  gain  by  such  a  crime  ? 
It  may  be  argued  that  the  death  of  the  Queen  would  be 
a  severe  blow  to  French  interests  at  Madrid,  and  would 
thus  avenge  her  disgrace.  That  is  true  ;  but  it  is  by 
no  means  certain  that  Olympe  had  abandoned  all  hope 
of  returning  to  France,  and  in  the  support  of  Marie 
Louise  lay  her  best,  almost  her  only,  chance  of  being 
recalled.  As  for  the  supposition  that  she  rendered  this 
service  to  Austria  in  order  to  further  the  interests 
of  her  son  Eugene,  that  merits  scant  consideration. 
Eugene's  reputation  was  already  too  firmly  established 
to  stand  in  need  of  any  such  aid. 

However  that  may  be,  one  part  of  Saint-Simon's 
narrative  is  entirely  false.  Madame  de  Soissons  did 
not,  as  he  avers,  fly  from  Spain  before  even  the  Queen's 
death.  She  remained  in  Madrid  until  the  following 
May,  when  she  received  orders  to  depart  within  a  week, 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  391 

and  went  to  Portugal,  where  she  remained  for  a  year. 
That  such  an  order  implied  a  belief  on  the  part  of 
Carlos  II  that  the  countess  had  been  in  some  way  con- 
cerned in  his  wife's  death  is  quite  conceivable,  though, 
if  such  were  the  case,  it  is  strange  that  no  objection 
should  subsequently  have  been  raised  to  her  return  to 
Flanders  ;  but  it  is  more  likely  to  have  proceeded  from 
his  dread  of  her  powers  as  a  sorceress. 

From  Portugal  Olympe  seems  to  have  gone  to 
Germany  ;  but,  two  years  later,  we  find  her  again  in 
Brussels,  where  she  resumed  the  life  which  she  had 
lived  during  her  former  residence  in  that  city,  visiting 
and  receiving  all  the  most  notable  residents  and  dis- 
tinguished foreigners,  like  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  whose 
intimacy  with  her  is  in  itself  a  repudiation  of  Saint- 
Simon's  accusation.  Of  her  later  years,  however,  we 
know  very  little.  Saint-Simon  declares  that  all  the 
French  of  distinction  who  visited  the  city  were  strictly 
forbidden  to  visit  her  ;  but,  if  such  were  the  case,  it  is 
somewhat  singular  to  find  the  Marechal  de  Villeroi  call- 
ing upon  her  and  presenting  his  son,  and  the  sister 
of  Madame  de  Coulanges  inviting  her  to  supper.^  The 
same  veracious  chronicler  further  declares  that  her 
famous  son  Eugene  only  visited  her  on  one  occasion, 
and  that  she  died  "  in  a  species  of  opprobrium."  But 
let  us  listen  to  a  Brussels  journal  of  the  time,  Les 
Relations  virttables: — 

"Brussels,  lo  July  1708. 

"  At  noon  of  the  same  day  (6  July),  the  Prince 
Eugene  de  Savoie,  accompanied  by  Major  -  General 
Cadogan  and  travelling  post,  passed  by  this  town  on  his 
way  to  the  camp  of  Assche,  where  he  held  a  council  of 

^  "  Lettres  de  Madame  de  Coulanges." 


392  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

war  with  the  Prince  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  ; 
and  the  yth,  about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he  came 
to  this  town  and  alighted  at  the  house  of  her  Highness 
the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  his  mother,  where  he  received 
the  compliments  of  the  Ministers  and  the  nobles,  and 
left  again  the  following  morning  for  the  army." 

Three  months  later,  the  same  journal  announces  the 
death  of  the  countess. 

"Brussels,  7  October  1708. 

"Tuesday  morning,  the  9th  of  this  month,  her 
Highness  the  Comtesse-dowager  de  Soissons  died  in 
this  town,  after  an  illness  of  some  weeks  :  her  good 
qualities,  her  virtues,  and  especially  her  charity  towards 
the  poor,  render  her  worthy  of  praise  and  cause  her  to 
be  regretted  by  all  the  world." ^ 

Of  the  seven  nieces  of  Mazarin,  Olympe  was  the 
one  who  most  nearly  resembled  him.  She  resembled 
him  in  her  ambition,  in  her  ostentation,  in  her  un- 
scrupulousness,  and  in  her  love  of  intrigue  ;  but  she 
had  none  of  his  discretion,  none  of  his  foresight,  and 
she  was  vindictive,  which  the  Cardinal  certainly  was 
not.  Hence  she  failed,  and  spent  the  last  twenty-eight 
years  of  her  life  in  well-merited  exile. 

^  Cited  by  Amedee  Renee,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 


CHAPTER    XXI 

The  Duchesse  de  Mazarin  leaves  Savoy  and  takes  up  her  residence  In 
England— Her  reception  by  Charles  II — He  makes  her  a  pension, 
and  gives  her  apartments  in  St.  James's  Palace — His  answer  to 
her  husband's  representations — Saint-Evremond's  account  of  her  life 
in  England — His  devotion  to  her — His  description  of  her  charms — 
She  frequents  the  society  of  wits  and  men  of  letters— Fatal  duel 
between  her  nephew,  the  Chevalier  de  Soissons,  and  her  lover,  the 
Baron  de  Banier — Her  despair — She  resolves  to  enter  a  convent  in 
Madrid,  but  is  dissuaded  by  Saint- Evremond — Her  passion  for 
bassette — Remonstrances  of  Saint-Evremond — Visit  of  the  Duchesse 
de  Bouillon  to  England — The  Revolution  of  1688  occurs  during  her 
visit — She  is  sent  back  to  France  in  William  of  Orange's  yacht — 
Hortense's  pension  reduced  by  the  new  King — Her  last  years — She 
dies  at  Chelsea  in  July  1 699 — Saint-Evremond's  eulogy  of  her — -M.  de 
Mazarin's  treatment  of  her  remains — Her  children— Visit  of  the 
Duchesse  de  Bouillon  to  Rome — Her  quarrel  with  the  Duchess  of 
Hanover — Saint-Simon's  opinion  of  her — Her  sons. 

TN  recounting  the  adventures  of  her  three  sisters,  we 
have  somewhat  neglected  Hortense,  whom  we  last 
saw,  in  February  1674,  making  a  diplomatic  pilgrimage 
to  the  shrine  of  Saint-Francois  de  Sales,  to  avoid  the 
compromising  visit  of  her  sister  Marie.  After  the 
departure  of  the  Constabless  for  Flanders,  Charles 
Emmanuel  would  appear  to  have  sought  consolation 
for  his  loss  in  frequent  visits  to  Chambery,  which 
aroused  the  jealousy  and  resentment  of  the  Duchess  of 
Savoy,  so  complacent  where  the  elder  sister  had  been 
concerned.  The  result  was  that  soon  after  the  Duke's 
death,  in   the   summer  of   1675,  Madame  de   Mazarin 

393 


394  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

received  an  intimation  from  his  widow  that  she  must 
look  elsewhere  for  an  asylum.  Hortense,  accordingly, 
quitted  Chambery,  travelled  through  Switzerland,  Ger- 
many, and  Holland  "  on  horseback,  and  wearing  a 
plumed  hat  and  a  peruke,"  according  to  her  former 
ally  the  Marquis  de  Courcelles,  and  reached  Amsterdam, 
where  she  embarked  for  England. 

It  has  been  pretended  that  this  journey  had  apolitical 
end.  Louise  de  Keroualles,  Duchess  of  Portsmouth, 
was  at  this  time  in  possession  of  the  lion's  share  of 
Charles  II's  heart,  and  using  all  her  influence  to  keep 
that  estimable  monarch  in  the  path  marked  out  for  him 
by  his  paymaster  at  Versailles  ;  and  the  leaders  of  the 
country-party  are  supposed  to  have  invited  the  woman 
whom  rumour  credited  with  being  the  most  beautiful  of 
her  time  to  England,  in  order  to  oppose  her  to  the 
reigning  siren.  It  would,  however,  appear  more  prob- 
able that  the  fact  that  the  Duchess  of  York  was  her 
cousin,^  and  that  she  was,  in  consequence,  sure  of  a 
welcome  at  Whitehall,  had  been  Hortense's  principal 
reason  for  choosing  England. 

However  that  may  be,  Charles  II  received  the  duchess 
with  open  arms — in  the  literal  as  well  as  the  figurative 
sense  of  the  expression — installed  her  at  once  as  one  of 
his  subordinate  sultanas,  and  gave  her  a  pension  of 
^4000,  while  Waller  hastened  to  chant  her  praises  : 

"  When  through  the  world  fair  Mazarine  had  run, 
Bright  as  her  fellow-traveller,  the  sun  ; 
Hither  at  length  the  Roman  eagle  flies, 
As  the  last  triumph  of  her  conquering  eyes." 

Soon  the  star  of  Louise  de  Keroualles  began  to  pale 
before  the  "  conquering  eyes  "   of  the    beautiful    exile, 

1  Marie  Beatrix  d'Este,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Modena  and  Laure 
Martinozzi. 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  395 

and  the  joy  of  her  enemies,  private  and  political,  knew 
no  bounds,  when,  on  a  sudden,  the  capricious  Hortense 
dashed  all  their  hopes  by  transferring  her  affections  to 
the  Prince  de  Monaco,  one  of  her  friends  of  Savoy. 
The  King,  in  high  dudgeon,  stopped  the  pension  and 
treated  the  lady  with  marked  coldness  ;  but  his  anger 
did  not  last  long,  and,  after  a  few  weeks,  he  not  only 
restored  the  pension,  but  gave  her  apartments  in  St. 
James's  Palace.  The  Due  de  Mazarin,  highly  indignant 
at  his  Majesty's  generosity,  and  evidently  under  the 
impression  that  the  pension  was  in  the  form  of  a  loan 
for  which  he  himself  might  be  made  responsible, 
despatched  an  emissary  to  England  to  represent  to  the 
King  that  his  wife's  receipts  were  valueless,  to  which 
Charles  replied,  laughing,  that  it  was  a  matter  which 
troubled  him  not  at  all,  since  he  never  took  any,^  He 
remained  the  duchess's  friend,  and  perhaps  an  inter- 
mittent lover,  to  the  end  of  his  life  ;  and  John  Evelyn 
relates  that  he  saw  him  "  toying  with  her  "  at  White- 
hall, only  a  week  before  his  death.^ 

In  her  apartments  at  St.  James's,  Hortense  led  a  very 
agreeable  existence,  and  "  found  herself  surrounded  by 
all  the  noblest  and  most  witty  persons  whom  England 
possessed."  One  of  the  habituds  of  this  little  Court, 
Saint-Evremond,  has  left  us  the  following  picture  of  it  : 

1  *' CEuvres  de  Saint-Evremond,"  vol.  V. 

2  "Diary  and  Correspondence  of  John  Evelyn,"  vol.  II,  210  :  "I 
can  never  forget  the  expressible  luxury  and  profaneness,  gaming,  and  all 
dissoluteness,  and,  as  it  were,  total  forgetfulness  of  God,  which  this  day 
se'nnight  I  was  witness  of:  the  King  sitting  and  toying  with  his  concu- 
bines, Portsmouth,  Cleveland,  Mazarin^  etc.,  a  French  boy  singing  love 
songs,  in  that  glorious  gallery,  while  about  twenty  of  the  great  courtiers 
and  other  dissolute  persons  were  at  Basset,  round  a  large  table,  a  bank  of 
at  least  two  hundred  in  gold  before  them  ;  upon  which  two  gentlemen  who 
were  with  me  made  reflections  with  astonishment.  Six  days  after,  all  was 
in  the  dust." 


396  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

*'  Freedom  and  discretion  are  equally  to  be  found  there. 
Every  one  is  made  more  at  home  than  in  his  own  house, 
and  treated  with  more  respect  than  at  Court.  It  is  true 
that  there  are  frequent  disputes  there,  but  they  are  those 
of  knowledge,  not  of  anger.  There  is  play  there,  but 
it  is  inconsiderable  and  only  practised  for  the  sake  of 
amusement.  You  discover  in  no  countenance  the  fear 
of  losing,  nor  concern  for  what  is  lost.  Play  is  followed 
by  the  most  excellent  repasts  in  the  world.  There  you 
will  find  whatever  delicacy  is  brought  from  France  and 
whatever  is  curious  from  the  Indies.  Even  the  com- 
monest meals  have  the  rarest  relish  imparted  to  them. 
There  is  neither  a  plenty  which  gives  a  notion  of  ex- 
travagance, nor  a  frugality  that  discovers  penury  or 
meanness." 

Saint-Evremond,  banished  from  the  Court  of  France, 
had  been  living  some  fourteen  years  in  England  when 
Madame  de  Mazarin  came  to  reside  there.  His 
admiration  for  the  beautiful  duchess  was  boundless,^ 
though  it  would  appear  to  have  been  of  the  platonic 
order,  such  as  Chateaubriand  cherished  for  Madame 
Recamier.  He  visited  her  every  day,  became  her  poet, 
her  advocate,  and  her  secretary,  and  remained  to  the 
end  of  her  life  her  most  devout  worshipper.  It  is  in 
his  writings  that  we  must  seek  for  details  of  Madame 
de  Mazarin's  life  in  England  ;  but  his  devotion  rendered 

1  Saint-Evremond  has  left  a  description  of  the  duchess's  charms, 
which  sounds  almost  fabulous  : 

"  She  is  one  of  those  Roman  beauties  who  in  no  way  resemble  your 
dolls  of  France  .  .  .  the  colour  of  her  eyes  has  no  name;  it  is  neither 
blue,  nor  grey,  nor  altogether  black,  but  a  combination  of  all  the  three  ; 
they  have  the  sweetness  of  blue,  the  gaiety  of  grey,  and,  above  all,  the 
fire  of  the  black  .  .  ■.  there  are  none  in  the  world  so  sweet  .  .  .  there 
are  none  in  the  world  so  serious  and  so  grave  when  her  thoughts  are 
occupied  with  any  serious  subject  .  .  .  they  are  large,  well-set,  full  of  fire 
and  intelligence  ...  all  the  movements  of  her  mouth  are  full  of  charm, 


FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS  397 

him  so  blind  to  her  failings  that  it  is  as  well  to  accept 
some  of  his  statements  concerning  her  with  considerable 
reserve.^ 

Among  Hortense's  other  friends  were  Charles,  Lord 
Buckhurst,  afterwards  Earl  of  Dorset,  poet,  philan- 
thropist, and  wit,  the  most  malicious  of  writers,  and  the 
most  kind-hearted  of  men,  of  whom  Rochester  cleverly 

said  *  '       • 

For  pointed  satire  I  would  Buckhurst  chuse, 

The  best  good  man  with  the  worst  natured  muse. 

Dr.  Vossius,  canon  of  Windsor  ;  the  Protestant  refugee, 
Justel  ;  Saint-Real,  whom  she  had  first  met  in  Savoy 
and  in  collaboration  with  whom  she  wrote  her  memoirs, 
and  the  poet  Waller. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  duchess  had  begun  to 
form  a  decided  taste  for  intellectual  pleasures  ;  but  this 
did  not  prevent  her  from  indulging  in  numerous  gallan- 
tries, one  of  which  had  a  most  tragic  termination.  Some 
years  after  her  arrival  in  England,  she  was  visited  by  her 
nephew,  the  Chevalier  de  Soissons,  Olympe's  youngest 
son.  The  chevalier  "  breathed  the  contagious  air  of 
the  house,"  and  conceived  for  his  aunt,  who,  though 

and  the  strangest  grimaces  become  her  wonderfully,  when  she  imitates 
those  who  make  them.  Her  smiles  would  soften  the  hardest  heart  and 
ease  the  most  profound  depression  of  mind  ;  they  almost  entirely  change 
her  expression,  which  is  naturally  haughty,  and  spread  over  it  a  certain 
tincture  of  sweetness  and  kindness,  which  reassures  those  hearts  whom  her 
charms  have  alarmed.  Her  nose,  which  without  doubt  is  incomparably 
well-turned  and  perfectly  proportioned,  gives  a  noble  and  lofty  air  to  her 
whole  physiognomy.  The  tone  of  her  voice  is  so  harmonious  and  agree- 
able that  none  can  hear  her  speak  without  being  sensibly  moved.  Her 
complexion  is  so  delicately  clear  that  I  cannot  believe  that  anyone  who 
examined  it  closely  can  deny  it  to  be  whiter  than  the  driven  snow.  Her 
hair  is  of  a  glossy  black,  with  nothing  harsh  about  it.  To  see  how 
naturally  it  curls  as  soon  as  it  is  let  loose,  one  would  say  it  rejoiced  to 
shade  so  lovely  a  head  ;  she  has  the  finest  turned  countenance  that  a 
painter  ever  imagined." 

^  As,  for  example,  when  he  writes  that  "  with  the  beauty  of  ancient 
Greece,  Madame  de  Mazarin  combined  the  virtue  of  ancient  Rome," 


398  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

approaching  her  fortieth  year  and  already  a  grandmother, 
was  still  almost  as  beautiful  as  ever,  a  most  violent 
passion.  Hortense,  however,  repulsed  him  with  horror, 
her  heart  being  fully  occupied  by  a  fascinating  Swedish 
nobleman,  the  Baron  de  Banier,  son  of  the  general  of 
that  name  who  had  distinguished  himself  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  Transported  with  jealousy,  the 
Chevalier  challenged  the  baron  to  a  duel,  and  wounded 
him  so  severely  that  he  died  a  few  days  later. 

This  affair  caused  a  terrible  scandal,  and  M.  de  Sois- 
sons  was  arrested  and  had  to  stand  his  trial  for  man- 
slaughter.^ Poor  Hortense  was  in  despair  ;  she  denied 
herself  to  nearly  all  her  friends,  draped  her  rooms  in 
black,  and  spoke  of  withdrawing  to  Spain  and  join- 
ing Marie  in  her  convent.  Saint-Evremond  sought  to 
dissuade  her.  "When  the  ugly  and  the  imbecile," 
wrote  he  to  her,  "  throw  themselves  into  convents,  it  is 
a  divine  inspiration  which  causes  them  to  quit  a  world 
where  they  only  appear  to  disgrace  the  authors  of  their 
being.  On  your  part,  Madame,  it  is  a  veritable  tempta- 
tion of  the  devil. 

"...  Perhaps  you  hope  to  find  consolation  in  con- 
versing with  the  Constabless  ;  but,  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
that  consolation  will  soon  come  to  an  end.  After 
having  talked  for  three  or  four  days  about  France  and 
Italy;  after  having  spoken  of  the  passion  of  the  King 
(i.e.  Louis  XlV's  passion  for  Marie),  and  the  timidity  of 
your  uncle  (Mazarin),  of  that  which  you  intended  to  be 
and  that  which  you  have  become  ;  after  having  exhausted 
the  recollections  of  your  stay  in  the  Constabless's  house, 
of  your  departure  from  Rome,  and  of  the  ill  success  of 
your  journeys,  you  will  find  yourself  shut  up  in  a  con- 

1  "  I  could  not  have  believed,"  wrote  Madame  de  Sevigne,  "  that  the 
eyes  of  a  grandmother  could  work  such  havoc." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  399 

vent.  There  you  will  experience  all  the  hardships  of  the 
nuns,  and  will  not  find  that  Spouse  which  consoles  them. 
All  spouses  are  odious  to  you,  whether  in  a  convent  or 
in  the  world.  ..." 

Hortense's  desire  for  a  conventual  life  did  not  last 
long,  and  was  replaced  by  a  violent  passion  for  play,  and 
in  particular  for  the  fascinating  game  of  bassette.  A 
certain  professional  gamester  named  Morin,  compelled 
to  fly  from  France,  established  himself  in  London,  and 
succeeded  in  insinuating  himself  into  the  duchess's 
apartments  at  St.  James's,  where  the  game  quickly  became 
the  rage.  Having  no  longer  any  thought  in  her  pretty 
head  but  bassette,  Hortense  neglected  the  pleasures  of 
the  mind  and  the  wits  and  men  of  letters  who  had 
formerly  found  so  warm  a  welcome  there,  to  the  great 
sorrow  of  Saint-Evremond,  who  took  upon  himself  to 
remonstrate  with  her  in  the  following  verses  : — 

"Qui  sert  a  ces  messieurs  leur  illustre  science? 
A  peine  leur  fait-on  la  simple  reverence 
Et  les  pauvres  savants,  interdits  et  confus, 
Regardent  Mazarin,  qui  ne  les  connait  plus. 

Hortense  joue  a  la  bassette, 
Aussi  longtemps  que  veut  Morin, 
Vous  veillez  jusqu'au  lendemain  ; 
Plus  de  I'opera,  plus  de  musique 
De  morale,  de  politique.  . 

Beaux  yeux,  quel  est  votre  destin ! 
Perirez-vous,  beaux  yeux,  a  regarder  Morin  ?  " 

In  July  1687,  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  came  to 
England  on  a  visit  to  her  sister.  Marianne  had  fallen 
into  fresh  disgrace  with  the  King,  for  what  cause  is  un- 
certain, and  Paris  and  the  Court  had  been  interdicted 
her.  The  duchess  had  always  been  fond  of  play,  but 
she  was  fonder  still  of  intellectual  pleasures,  and  with 


400  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

her  arrival   Hortense's  apartments  at  St.  James's  became 

once  more  the  rendezvous  of  wits  and  men  of  letters. 

Madame  de  Bouillon's  visit  was  made  the  occasion  of 

a  kind  of  joust,  between  Marianne's  favourite  poet,  La 

Fontaine,  and  the  old  and  witty  cavalier  of  Madame  de 

Mazarin  ;  but  each  was  magnanimous  enough  to  chant 

the  praises  of  his  rival's  idol  as  well  as  those  of  his  own ; 

and  it  was  now  that  La  Fontaine  wrote  those  charming 

verses,  the  first  lines  of  which   we  have   already  had 

occasion  to  quote  : 

"  Hortense  eut  du  ciel  en  partage 
La  grace,  la  beaute,  I'esprit,  ce  n'est  pas  tout : 
Les  qualites  du  coeur  ;  ce  n'est  pas  tout  encore  : 
Pour  mille  autres  appas  le  monde  entier  I'adore 
Depuis  I'un  jusqu'a  I'autre  bout. 
L'Angleterre  en  ce  point  le  dispute  a  la  France, 
Votre  heroine  rend  nos  deux  peuples  rivaux." 

In  praising  the  esprit  of  Hortense,  La  Fontaine  was 
not,  as  some  may  suppose,  merely  availing  himself  of 
the  licence  enjoyed  by  poets  of  all  ages  of  attributing 
all  manner  of  moral  as  well  as  physical  perfections  to 
the  ladies  in  whose  honour  they  tuned  their  lyres. 
The  duchess,  though  in  her  youth  frivolous  and  giddy, 
was  never  an  insipid  beauty.  She  had  all  the  quick 
intelligence  of  her  family,  and,  though  her  life  with 
M.  de  Mazarin  was  hardly  calculated  to  develop  her 
faculties,  the  society  she  met  at  Rome,  that  of  Saint- 
Real  in  Savoy,  and  later  the  friends  whom  she  drew 
around  her  in  London,  all  exercised  a  beneficial  influence 
upon  her  mind.  Bayle,  who,  though  he  never  himself 
was  under  her  spell,  was  well  acquainted  with  several  of 
those  who  were,  declared  that  "  there  were  surprising 
charms  in  her  mind  and  manners,  that  she  loved  study, 
and  took  pleasure  in  the  conversation  of  learned  men  ;"  ^ 

1  Cited  by  Amedee  Renee,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  401 

The  Revolution  of  1688  surprised  the  two  sisters  in 
England,  and  Madame  de  Bouillon  found  herself  the 
prisoner  of  William  of  Orange.  It  was  at  first  believed 
that  he  would  not  allow  her  to  depart,  but  the  austere 
Dutchman  treated  her  with  the  greatest  courtesy,  and 
gave  orders  for  her  to  be  conveyed  to  France  in  his  own 
yacht.  Hortense,  as  the  relative  of  James  II's  queen, 
naturally  found  herself  regarded  with  suspicion  by  the 
triumphant  party,  which  demanded  her  expulsion. 
However,  her  friends  were  sufficiently  influential  to 
interest  the  new  king  in  her  favour,  and  not  only  to 
obtain  for  her  permission  to  remain  in  England,  but 
also  a  new  pension  ;  for  the  one  which  she  had  received 
from  Charles  II,  and  which  had  been  continued  by  his 
brother,  had,  of  course,  ceased  with  the  fallen  dynasty. 
However,  William  III,  being  neither  a  lover  nor  a 
relative  by  marriage,  did  not  feel  himself  justified  in 
allowing  the  lady  more  than  half  the  sum  which  she  had 
hitherto  been  receiving,  and  although  Hortense  suc- 
ceeded in  continuing  to  the  end  the  appearance  of  a 
princely  existence,  it  was  only  by  the  aid  of  confiding 
tradesmen.  At  length,  however,  some  of  her  creditors 
became  so  pressing  that  she  was  forced  to  appeal  for 
assistance  to  M.  de  Mazarin,  who,  while  piously  dis- 
sipating her  millions,  left  her  unprovided  for.  The 
duke  declined  to  assist  her,  and  advised  her  to  become 
bankrupt,  a  step  which,  said  he,  she  might  quite  legiti- 
mately take,  since  her  creditors  were  all  heretics.  He, 
however,  magnanimously  invited  her  to  return  to  the 
conjugal  domicile  where  she  had  passed  so  many  un- 
happy days  ;  but  Hortense  invariably  replied  with  the 
old  battle-cry  of  the  Fronde  :  Point  de  Mazarin  I  Point 
de  Mazarin  I 

During  the  last  years  of  her  life,  she  seems  to  have 
2  D 


402  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

become  rather  too  much  addicted  to  the  pleasures  of 
the  table,  particularly  in  the  matter  of  wine  ;  and  the 
rhyming  epistles  which  Saint-Evremond  addressed  to 
her  contain  certain  counsels  of  temperance  which  are  for 
us  distinctly  unpleasing  revelations. 

"  Beaute  des  models  cherie, 
Et  de  moi  plus  que  ma  vie  ! 
Moins  d'eaux  fortes,  de  vins  blancs 
Vous  irez  jusqu'a  cent  ans. 

Mais  que  le  ciel  vous  envoie 
Double  rate  et  double  foie, 
L'eau  de  Madame  Huet 
Vous  les  sechera  tout  net 
Centre  eau  d'anis,  eau  d'absinthe 
Quon  bolt  en  tasse  de  pitite 
Vos  poumons  ne  tiendront  pas 

Et  votre  coeur  doux  et  tendre, 
Qu'ont  fait  les  dieux  pour  se  rend  re 
Au  service  des  amants, 
Perira  par  vos  vins  blancs." 

These  excesses  no  doubt  hastened  the  duchesses  end, 
and  it  would  indeed  have  needed  a  constitution  of  iron 
to  have  long  withstood  "  absinthe  en  tasse  de  pinte^''  and, 
in  the  spring  of  1699,  she  fell  seriously  ill.  Hoping 
that  the  air  and  repose  of  the  country  might  afford  her 
relief,  she  removed  to  a  house  which  she  had  at  Chelsea 
— then,  of  course,  only  a  village — where  she  usually 
spent  the  summer,  but  she  grew  rapidly  worse,  and  we 
hear  of  her  as  "  living  only  on  brandy."^  Her  son,  the 
Due  de  la  Meilleraye,  and  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon, 
who  had  been  summoned  at  the  beginning  of  her  illness, 
arrived  just  before  the  end,  which  took  place  on  2  July 
1699,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three. 

1  Letter  of  the  Abbe  Viguier  to  Monsieur  d'Aubigny,  cited  by  Amedee 
Renee. 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  403 

The  inconsolable  Saint-Evremond  wrote  to  a  friend  : 
"She  had  been  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world, 
and  her  beauty  preserved  its  splendour  up  to  the  last 
moment  of  her  life.  She  had  been  the  greatest  heiress 
in  Europe,  and  magnificent,  though  poor,  she  had  lived 
more  honourably  than  the  most  opulent  could  do.  Elk 
est  mort  serieusement,  avec  un  indifference  chretien  pour  la  vie.'' 

The  best,  we  think,  that  can  be  said  for  poor  Hor- 
tense,  is  that  she  was  the  victim  of  circumstance.  Married 
very  young  to  a  half-lunatic  husband,  and  surrounded  by 
all  the  temptations  of  a  dissolute  society,  she  would  have 
needed  more  than  the  average  share  of  moral  stamina  to 
have  lived  a  life  free  from  reproach,  whereas  she  was  by 
nature  frivolous  and  self-willed,  greedy  for  pleasure,  and 
vain  of  admiration.  She  possessed,  however,  in  a  very 
marked  degree  the  art  of  endearing  herself  to  those  with 
whom  she  came  in  contact,  and  in  her  friendships,  as 
distinguished  from  her  love-affairs,  she  appears  to  have 
been  singularly  faithful,  which  perhaps  accounts  for  the 
extremely  lenient  judgment  passed  upon  her  by  Madame 
de  Sevignc  and  others  of  her  contemporaries. 

In  deatn,  Hortense  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  husband 
whose  pursuit  she  had  so  successfully  evaded  during 
life.  **M.  de  Mazarin,"  wrote  Saint-Simon,  "so  long 
separated  from  her,  caused  her  body  to  be  brought  back, 
and  marched  it  about  with  him  from  place  to  place. 
On  one  occasion,  he  deposited  it  at  Notre-Dame-de- 
Liesse,  where  the  worthy  inhabitants  prayed  to  it  as 
to  a  saint  and  touched  it  with  their  chaplets." 

Madame  de  Mazarin  had  four  children  ;  a  son  Paul 
Jules,  Due  de  Mazarin  et  de  la  Meilleraye  (1687- 
1731),  and  three  daughters,  Marie  Charlotte  (1662- 
1729),  married  to  the  Marquis  de  Richelieu,  who  had 
carried   her  off;   Marie  Anne   (i 663-1 720),  who    took 


404  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

the  veil  and  became  Abbess  of  Lys,  where  her  aunt 
Marie  had  once  been  imprisoned,  and  Marie  Olympe, 
born  in  1665,  who  married  the  Marquis  de  Belle- 
fonds. 

Paul  Jules  had  a  son,  Gui  Paul  Jules,  Due  de 
Mazarin  et  de  la  Meilleraye,  on  whose  death,  in  1738, 
the  male  branch  of  the  family  became  extinct,  and  a 
daughter,  Armande  Felicite,  who  married  Louis  de 
Mailly,  Marquis  de  Nesle,  and  became  the  mother  of 
the  four  celebrated  sisters,  the  Comtesse  de  Mailly,  the 
Comtesse  de  Vintimille,  the  Duchesse  de  Lauraguais,  and 
the  Marquise  de  la  Tournelle  (better  known  under  the 
title  of  Duchesse  de  Chateauroux),  who  were  succes- 
sively the  favourites  of  Louis  XV. 

After  her  departure  from  England,  Madame  de 
Bouillon,  to  whom  Paris  and  the  Court  were  still  for- 
bidden ground,  took  up  her  residence  at  the  beautiful 
Chateau  de  Navarre,  two  leagues  from  Evreux,  which 
her  husband  had  constructed  on  the  site  of  an  old 
pleasure-house  of  Queen  Jeanne  of  Navarre.^  She 
did  not,  however,  remain  there  long,  as  having  had  for 
some  time  a  great  desire  to  visit  Italy,  she  set  out  from 
Rome  to  join  her  brother,  the  Due  de  Nevers.  Here, 
they  appear  to  have  led  a  very  festive  kind  of  exist- 
ence, keeping  open  house  and  giving  the  most 
sumptuous  entertainments.  One  of  their  favourite 
diversions  was  to  parade  the  streets  of  the  city,  on 
moonlight  nights,  "  in  an  open  chariot,  having  with 
them  the  Signora  Faustina,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
voices  in  Rome,  and  the  instruments  necessary  to  ac- 
company her."     On  one  occasion,  they  made   her  sing 

^  It  was  to  this  chateau,  which  had  been  presented  to  her  by 
Napoleon,  that  the  Empress  Josephine  retired  after  her  divorce  in  18 10 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  405 

under  the  windows  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  "  who 
the  moment  Faustina  had  ceased,  did  not  fail  to  respond 
from  a  balcony  by  the  Signora  Georgina,  his  mistress, 
whom  he  had  carried  off  from  the  Duke  of  Mantua, 
who,  having  a  voice  not  less  beautiful  than  that  of 
Faustina,  had  also  partisans."  This  kind  of  competi- 
tion, the  chronicler  adds,  continued  for  several  nights 
and  attracted  a  numerous  company,  "  who  formed  them- 
selves into  two  rival  factions,  and  raised  shouts  of  *  Viva 
Francia  !  Viva  Esparto  ! '  which  could  be  heard  in  the 
most  remote  quarters  of  the  city."^ 

The  latter  part  of  Madame  de  Bouillon's  life  was  un- 
eventful, the  only  incident  out  of  the  common  which  is 
recorded  of  her  being  a  violent  dispute  with  the  Duchess 
of  Hanover  over  a  question  of  precedence.  The  sequel 
to  the  quarrel  was  that,  a  few  days  later,  when  the 
German  princess  was  on  her  way  to  the  play,  she  was 
met  by  Madame  de  Bouillon  and  several  of  her  relatives, 
at  the  head  of  a  small  army  of  retainers,  who  fell  upon 
the  unfortunate  foreigners  and,  having  put  them  to 
flight,  cut  the  traces  of  the  horses  and  nearly  demolished 
the  coach. 

She  died  in  17 14,  preserving,  according  to  Saint- 
Simon,  her  beauty  and  charm  to  the  last.  "  She  was 
the  Queen  of  Paris  and  of  all  places  to  which  she  was 
exiled  ;  husband,  children,  the  whole  Bouillon  family, 
the  Prince  de  Conti,  the  Due  de  Bourbon,  who  did  not 
budge,  while  at  Paris,  from  her  house,  all  were  more 
lowly  than  the  grass  before  her.  She  only  very  rarely 
visited  any  one  .  .  .  and  preserved  an  air  of  superiority 
over  every  one,  which  she  knew  how  to  apportion  and  to 
season  with  much  skill  according  to  the  rank  of  those 
with  whom  she  came  in  contact.     Her  house  was  open 

^  "  Memoires  de  Coulanges." 


4o6  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

from  the  morning  .  .  .  morning  and  evening  she  kept 
a  splendid  table  ;  high  play  went  on  there,  and  of  all 
kinds  at  the  same  time.  Never  did  woman  occupy  her- 
self less  with  her  toilette  ;  never  had  beautiful  and 
singular  features  like  hers  less  need  of  the  resources  of 
art.  She  was  intelligent,  spoke  well,  argued  freely,  and 
always  went  to  the  heart  of  anything.  Intelligence  and 
beauty  sustained  her,  and  the  world  accustomed  itself  to 
be  governed  by  her."  ^ 

Madame  de  Bouillon  had  four  sons,  who  all  embraced 
the  profession  of  arms,  and  the  eldest,  the  Prince  de 
Turenne,  would  have  been  celebrated,  had  not  the 
memory  of  his  achievements  been  unfortunately  merged 
in  that  of  the  illustrious  captain  whose  name  he  bore. 
In  1679,  he  accompanied  the  Prince  de  Conti  and 
Eugene  de  Savoie  to  Hungary,  and  distinguished  him- 
self at  the  battles  of  Grau  and  Neuhausel.  Whether  he 
was  actually  the  author  of  the  compromising  letter  we 
have  spoken  of  elsewhere  is  uncertain  ;  but,  any  way,  he 
had  no  sooner  returned  to  France  than  he  received  a 
lettre  de  cachet  ordering  him  to  repass  the  frontier.  He 
went  to  Venice  and  took  service,  as  a  volunteer,  under 
the  Republic,  then  disputing  with  the  Turks  possession 
of  the  Morea  and  Greece.  His  military  talents,  and 
still  more  his  reckless  courage,  so  delighted  the  Venetians 
that,  on  his  return,  the  Republic  presented  him  with  a 
sword  encrusted  with  diamonds,  charged  their  Am- 
bassador in  Paris  to  compliment  his  family,  and  offered 
him  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general.  But  the  young 
prince,  unlike  his  cousin  Eugene,  had  no  wish  to  re- 
nounce his  country  and  preferred  to  remain  a  volunteer. 
Soon  afterwards,  he  was  permitted  to  return  to  France, 
but  did  not  long  survive  his  recall. 

1  "  Memoircs  de  Saint-Simon." 


FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS  407 

The  duchess's  second  son,  the  Due  d'Albret,  was 
Grand  Chamberlain  to  the  King  and  Governor  of 
Auvergne ;  a  third  was  a  Knight  of  Malta ;  the  youngest, 
a  colonel-general  of  light  cavalry,  married  the  daughter 
of  a  wealthy  financier,  who  was  called  by  Madame  de 
Bouillon,  "  her  little  ingot  of  gold."  The  family 
became  extinct  on  the  death  of  Godefroy  Charles  Henri 
de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne,  in  1791. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

Death  of  the  Constable  Colonna — On  his  death-bed  and  in  his  will  he 
asks  pardon  of"  his  wife  and  recommends  her  to  the  care  of  their  sons — 
Visit  of  Don  Carlo  Colonna  to  Madrid — Meeting  between  Marie  and 
the  Due  de  Nevers  at  Toulouse — The  Constabless  goes  to  Rome,  but 
decides  to  return  to  Spain — On  her  way  from  Genoa  to  Marseilles, 
she  is  captured  by  a  corsair — But  is  released  by  the  Governor  of 
Finale — Consideration  which  she  enjoys  at  Madrid — Her  intimacy 
with  the  new  Queen,  Maria  Anna  of  Neuburg — She  follows  her  to 
Toledo,  on  her  banishmeut  thither  in  January  1 702 — Her  interview 
with  Philip  V — She  leaves  Spain  and  visits  various  towns  in  the  south 
of  France — Receives  permission  to  come  to  Paris,  and  goes  to  live  at 
Passy — She  declines  Louis  XIV's  invitation  to  Court — Departure  for 
Rome — Her  last  years — She  dies  at  Pisa,  in  May  1 7 1 5 — Her  epitaph. 

"JV/TARIE  survived  all  her  sisters,  though,  like  theirs, 
her  later  years  were  comparatively  uneventful. 
On  15  April  1689,  the  Constable  Colonna  died  at 
Rome.  Since  1684,  when  he  had  had  a  serious  illness, 
he  had  lived  for  the  most  part  in  retirement,  and  latterly 
had  become  very  devout.  Five  priests  assisted  him  in 
his  last  hours,  and  afterwards  drew  up  and  signed  a 
Relatione  of  his  repentance,  evidently  intended  to  cause 
people  to  forget  the  decidedly  unedifying  life  which  the 
prince  had  lived.  On  his  death-bed,  he  expressed  the 
tenderest  sentiments  towards  his  wife,  and  his  regret 
for  the  harshness  with  which  he  had  treated  her,  and 
summoning  his  eldest  son,  the  Principe  di  Palliano,  re- 
commended to  his  care  and  that  of  his  brothers  their 
"  excellent  mother."  ^  In  a  codicil  to  his  will,  he 
"  demanded  pardon  of  his  wife,  and,  for  fear  that  appear- 

^   Lucien  Percy,  "  Marie  Mancini  Colonna." 

400 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  409 

ances  might  leave  to  his  children  some  resentment 
against  their  mother,  he  took  the  blame  upon  himself, 
and  did  not  inspire  them  with  anything  for  her,  save 
respect,  gratitude,  and  esteem."  ^ 

Marie  received  the  news  of  her  husband's  death  with 
the  most  profound  grief  Always  generous,  she  forgot 
her  wrongs  and  reproached  herself  bitterly  with  having 
doubted  his  good  faith  when,  three  years  before,  he  had 
begged  her,  for  the  last  time,  to  return  to  him.  She 
shut  herself  up  in  her  house  and  refused  to  receive  any 
one,  save  her  sister-in-law,  the  Marquesa  de  los  Balbases, 
until  her  youngest  and  favourite  son,  Don  Carlo 
Colonna,  who  had  taken  Orders,  arrived  in  Madrid,  to 
acquaint  her  with  particulars  of  his  father's  death  and  to 
bring  her  the  Constable's  betrothal  ring,  which  he  had 
bequeathed  to  her. 

Don  Carlo  endeavoured  to  persuade  his  mother  to 
return  with  him  to  Rome  and  make  her  home  there  ; 
and  he  and  his  brothers,  shortly  afterwards,  gave  her  a 
pension  of  12,000  crowns,  besides  offering  to  place 
apartments  in  the  Casa  Colonna  and  in  whichever  of  the 
numerous  country-seats  of  the  family  she  might  prefer 
at  her  disposal.  However,  she  elected  to  remain  for 
the  present  in  Madrid,  and  it  was  not  until  the  end  of 
the  year  1691  that  she  set  out  for  Rome.  She  travelled 
by  way  of  Bayonne  and  Toulouse,  Louis  XIV  having 
granted  her  a  passport,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
France  and  Spain  had  been  at  war  since  the  summer  of 
1689  ;  and  at  the  latter  town  was  met  by  her  brother 
the  Due  de  Nevers,  whom  she  had  not  seen  for  eighteen 
years.  The  object  of  their  meeting  seems  to  have  been 
to  discuss  the  project  of  a  marriage  between  Don  Marco 
Colonna,   Marie's   second    son,   and   the   duke's    eldest 

1   '>    Euvres  de  Saint- Evremond." 


4IO  FIVE   FAIR    SISTERS 

daughter/  who  was  then  about  fifteen  years  of  age ;  but 
the  Duchesse  de  Nevers  and  her  relatives  the  Morte- 
marts  were  opposed  to  the  young  girl  leaving  France,  and 
nothing  came  of  their  pourparlers.  The  Constabless  then 
continued  her  journey  to  Rome,  where,  however,  she  only 
remained  until  May  1692,  when  she  decided  to  return 
to  Madrid.  Nor  is  this  decision  a  matter  of  surprise. 
Her  long  residence  in  the  Spanish  capital  had  accustomed 
her  to  the  ways  of  the  country,  and  enabled  her  to  speak 
the  language  fluently,  while  she  had  many  influential 
friends  and  was  in  high  favour  at  Court.  On  the  other 
hand,  she  had  always  entertained  a  strong  distaste  for 
the  customs  of  her  native  land,  and  found  that  during 
her  absence  of  nearly  twenty  years  Roman  society 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  her,  and  that  there  was  little 
chance  of  her  being  able  to  resume  the  role  which  she 
had  once  played  in  it. 

On  her  return  journey,  she  passed  some  months  at 
Genoa,  and  then  embarked  on  a  little  felucca  bound  for 
Marseilles.  This  proved  an  unfortunate  step,  as  she 
had  not  been  many  hours  at  sea  when  the  felucca  was 
attacked  and  captured  by  a  corsair  of  Finale,  which 
carried  off  both  the  vessel  and  its  distinguished  pas- 
senger into  that  port.  The  governor  of  the  city,  how- 
ever, having  learned  of  the  Constabless's  plight,  sent 
soldiers  to  liberate  her  and  to  arrest  the  captain  of  the 
corsair,  whom  he  threw  into  prison.     Matters  would  no 

1  The  Due  de  Nevers,  who  died  in  May  1 707,  had  four  sons  and  two 
daughters :  I.  Eloi,  who  died  young  ;  2.  Gabriel,  Due  de  Donzi,  died  in 
1683;  3 .  Philippe  Jules  F rangois,  Prince  de  Vergagne,  Due  de  Nevers,  who 
attained  the  age  of  ninety-three,  and  was  the  father  of  the  amiable  and 
accomplished  Due  de  Nivernais,  whom  Lord  Chesterfield  holds  up  to  his 
son  as  a  model  for  him  to  form  himself  upon ;  4.  Jacques  Hippolyte,  Marquis 
de  Mancini,  who  inherited  his  father's  property  in  Italy ;  5.  Diane  Gabrielle 
Victoire,  who  married  the  Prince  de  Chimay  ;  6.  Adelaide  Philippe,  who 
became  the  wife  of  Louis  Antoine,  Due  d'Estrees. 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  411 

doubt  have  gone  hardly  with  the  audacious  pirate,  had 
not  Marie,  probably  thinking,  as  one  of  her  biographers 
suggests,  that  the  poor  man  had  been  sufficiently 
punished  by  being  compelled  to  surrender  so  beautiful 
a  prize  as  herself,  obtained  his  pardon  from  the  governor, 
after  which  she  resumed  her  interrupted  voyage  and 
reached  Marseilles  without  further  adventures.^ 

On  her  -return  to  Madrid,  Marie  seems  to  have 
occupied  a  very  enviable  position,  her  house  being  the 
rendezvous  of  the  foreign  Ambassadors  and  all  the  most 
notable  persons  of  the  Court ;  while,  notwithstanding 
her  pronounced  French  sympathies,  she  was  on  terms  of 
the  closest  intimacy  with  the  new  Queen,  Maria  Anna  of 
Neuburg.  When,  on  the  death  of  Carlos  II,  Louis 
XIV's  grandson,  the  Due  d'Anjou,  became  King  of  Spain, 
under  the  title  of  Philip  V,  Maria  Anna  was  exiled  to 
Toledo  (January  1702).  The  Constabless,  however, 
remained  faithful  to  her  royal  friend,  accompanied  her  in 
her  exile,  and  did  everything  possible  to  bring  about  a 
reconciliation  between  her  and  the  new  king.  Chiefly,  it 
would  appear,  through  her  efforts,  Philip  made  a  journey 
to  Toledo  and  had  an  interview  with  the  Queen- 
Dowager.  The  Constabless  was  present  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  was  very  graciously  received  by  his  Majesty, 
who  conversed  with  her  for  some  time  ;  while  she,  on 
her  part,  was  no  doubt  charmea  by  the  strong  re- 
semblance which  he  bore  to  his  grandfather.  However, 
the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession 
precluded  any  hope  of  Maria  Anna  being  allowed  to 
return  to  Madrid,  and,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  the 
Constabless  received  a  friendly  hint  from  the  Marquis  de 
Louville,  the  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid,  that,  by 
her  advocacy  of  the  Queen-Dowager's   cause,   she  had 

^   Lucien  Percy,  "  Marie  Mancini  Colunna." 


412  FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS 

somewhat  compromised  herself  with  the  new  Court,  and 
that  it  would  be  advisable  for  her  to  retire  to  Barcelona. 

At  the  end  of  January  1703,  the  Constabless,  finding 
that  Madrid  was  likely  to  remain  prohibited  ground  to 
her  for  some  time  to  come,  decided  to  visit  France,  to 
which  Louis  XIV  had  accorded  her  permission  to  return 
whenever  she  pleased.  After  spending  some  time  at 
Lyons,  a  town  endeared  to  her  by  the  souvenirs  of  the 
happy  past,  she  passed  on  to  Avignon,  where  we  hear 
of  her  driving  about  "  in  a  coach  and  six  accompanied 
by  two  equerries."  While  at  Avignon,  she  narrowly 
escaped  being  made  the  victim  of  an  impudent  impostor, 
a  young  man  named  Morandi,  who  pretended  to  be  a  con- 
nection of  the  Mazarin  family,  and  whose  fraud  was  only 
discovered  on  the  eve  of  his  receiving  a  considerable  sum 
of  money  from  the  Constabless  and  other  members  of 
the  family,  whom  she  had  asked  to  assist  him. 

This  incident  seems  to  have  disgusted  Marie  with 
Avignon,  which  she  shortly  afterwards  quitted,  and  after 
spending  some  time  at  Marseilles  and  other  towns  in 
the  south  of  France,  she  determined  to  visit  Paris. 
Nothing  had  been  said  about  Paris  in  the  permission 
which  she  had  received  to  enter  France  ;  but,  when  she 
wrote  to  the  Minister  Barbezieux,  leave  was  imme- 
diately accorded  her.  She  arrived  at  the  beginning  of 
September  1703,  but  did  not  reside  in  the  city  itself, 
preferring  to  take  up  her  quarters  in  a  house  at  Passy, 
which  belonged  to  the  Due  de  Nevers.  She  was  accom- 
panied by  two  waiting-women,  two  equerries,  and  about 
a  dozen  men-servants. 

Saint-Simon,  with  his  customary  inaccuracy  where 
the  Mancini  are  concerned,  states  that  Marie  only  re- 
ceived permission  to  reside  at  Passy,  "on  condition  that 
she    should    not   set   foot    in   Paris,  much    less   in   the 


FIVE   FAIR   SISTERS  413 

Court."  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Louis  XIV  sent  the 
Due  d'Harcourt  to  pay  her  "  a  thousand  compliments," 
and  to  invite  her  to  Versailles.  The  invitation,  how- 
ever, was  courteously  declined,  for  what  reason  is  un- 
certain, though,  as  the  Marquise  d'Huxelles,  who  saw 
her  at  this  time,  states  that  she  was  ^^ fort  detruite  de  sa 
personnel''  it  is  not  improbable  that  feminine  pride  ren- 
dered her  reluctant  to  reveal  to  the  lover  of  her  youth 
the  ravages  which  time  had  wrought.  She,  however, 
visited  Paris,  which  had  been  Improved  out  of  all  know- 
ledge since  she  had  last  seen  it  in  1 661,  and  wrote  to  her 
son  Don  Carlo  that  the  changes  seemed  to  her  incredible.^ 

The  Constabless  remained  at  Passy  until  the  middle 
of  October,  when  she  left  for  the  South,  and,  after 
spending  some  weeks  at  Lyons  and  Nevers,  at  the 
beginning  of  January  1704,  quitted  France,  for  the 
last  time,  and  returned  to  Rome. 

Until  recently,  nothing  was  known  of  Marie's  last 
years,  and  even  the  place  and  date  of  her  death  were 
matters  of  conjecture.  Thanks,  however,  to  the  in- 
defatigable researches  of  Lucien  Percy,  it  now  appears 
that  they  were  passed  entirely  in  Italy,  where  she 
divided  her  time  between  Rome,  Florence,  and  Venice, 
and  devoted  herself  with  much  solicitude  to  all  that 
concerned  the  welfare  of  the  Colonna  family.  Of 
her  three  sons,  Fllippo  succeeded  his  father  as  Grand 
Constable  of  Naples  ;  Don  Carlo,  a  great  favourite  at 
the  Vatican,  was  made  a  cardinal  In  May  1706  ;  while 
Marco  Antonio  married  Diana  Paleotto  di  Bologna,  a 
daughter  of  Lorenzo  Colonna's  former  mistress. 

The  death  of  the  Constabless's  sister  Marianne,  fol- 
lowed closely  by  that  of  her  eldest  son,  the  Constable, 
who    died    in    her    arms    in    November    17 14,  affected 

^   Lucien  Perey,  "Marie  Manciui  Colonna." 


414  FIVE    FAIR    SISTERS 

her  deeply,  and  she  became  convinced  that  her  own 
end  was  at  hand.  Though  she  had  had  little  religion 
in  her  youth,  in  her  old  age  she  had  become  very 
devout,  and,  in  May  17 15,  went  to  Pisa  to  consult 
a  certain  Spanish  monk  Padre  Ascanio  Salvatore,  whom 
she  had  taken  for  her  confessor  during  her  visits  to 
that  city,  about  certain  changes  in  her  will,  which  the 
death  of  her  eldest  son  had  rendered  necessary.  One 
day,  while  visiting  him,  at  the  Priory  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  she  was  seized  with  an  attack  of  apoplexy, 
and  died  early  on  the  following  morning,  without  re- 
covering consciousness,  on  the  humble  pallet  of  her 
confessor,  to  which  she  had  been  carried. 

In  her  will,  the  Constabless  had  left  directions  that 
she  was  to  be  buried  in  the  place  where  she  died,  and 
she  was  accordingly  interred  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  at  Pisa,  where  the  simple  inscription 

"MARIE   MANCINI   COLONNA 

ASHES   AND    DUST." 

marks  the  spot  where  she  lies. 

"  Marie  Mancini,"  says  Saint-Simon,  "  was  the  best 
of  the  Mancini  and  the  most  foolish  "  ;  and  with  this 
dictum  few  who  have  read  these  pages  will  be  inclined 
to  disagree.  She  had  many  noble  qualities  ;  she  was 
high-minded,  generous,  sincere,  and  affectionate  ;  but  she 
was  headstrong  and  impetuous,  and  subordinated  every- 
thing to  her  desires  and  her  passions,  though  how  far  the 
escapades  of  her  middle  life  were  due  to  her  natural  im- 
pulses and  how  far  to  the  effects  of  the  illness  from  which 
she  had  suffered  at  Loretto  in  1661  is  difficult  to  say. 
However  that  may  be,  there  can  be  no  question  that  her 
influence  over  Louis  XIV  was,  as  we  have  said  elsewhere, 
in  its  early  phases  at  least,  a  most  salutary  one,  and  that 
is  perhaps  her  best  claim  to  be  remembered. 


INDEX 


Aiguillon,  Duchesse  d',  49 

Alen9on,  Mile,  d',  199 

Alluye,  Madame  d',  lOi,  141,  371  and 
note,  372,  374,  375 

Altieri,  Cardinal,  303,  307,  308,  309, 
310,  320,  342 

Angelelli,  Marchese  de,  221,  235,  237 

Anjou,  Philippe,  Due  d'.    See  Orleans, 
Philippe,  Due  d' 

Anne  of  Austria,  Queen  of  France,  her 
reception  of  Mazarin's  nieces,  4-6 ; 
her  relations  with  Mazarin  con- 
sidered, 6-14;  rebuffs  the  Marquis 
de  Jarze,  18,  19 ;  lilielled  by  the 
Frondeurs,  21  note ;  her  corre- 
spondence with  Mazarin  during  his 
exile  at  Briihl,  25-28 ;  her  tender 
letter  to  him,  33 ;  accompanies 
Louis  XIV  to  Lyons,  85-95 !  alarmed 
at  Louis  XIV's  passion  for  Marie 
Mancini,  101-103 ;  endeavours  to 
dissuade  the  King  from  marrying 
Marie,  III,  112;  her  touching  in- 
terview with  her  son,  116,  117; 
accused  by  him  of  embittering  the 
Cardinal  against  his  niece,  127  ; 
Mazarin's  letter  to  her  from  Cadillac, 
129,  130;  and  from  Saint-Jean-de- 
Luz,  1 39-141  ;  her  interview  with 
Marie  Mancini  and  her  sisters  at 
Saint-Jean-d'Angely,  143-145  ;  Ma- 
zarin's diplomatic  letter  to  her,  15S, 
159  ;  her  aversion  to  Marie  Mancini, 
180,  181  ;  her  interview  with  Philip 
IV  of  Spain,  197,  198  ;  Mazarin's 
treatment  of  her  during  his  last 
illness,  223,  224  ;  opposed  to  Marie 
Mancini  remaining  in  P'rance,  234 ; 
also  mentioned,  63,  65,  68,  104,  107, 
109,  no,  113,  118,  128,  130,  141, 
142,  146,  159,  187,  199,  204,  210, 
217,  235 


Astorga,     Marques     d'     (Viceroy    of 

Naples),  287  note,  298 
Aulnoy,  Madame  d'  (cited),  350-352, 

359.  360 

B 

Banier,  Baron  de  (lover  of  Madame 

de  Mazarin),  39S 
Barberini,  Cardinal,  16 
Barine,  Arvede  (cited),  72,  112,  201 
Bartet  (confidential  agent  of  Mazarin), 

I75>  176,  179,  226 
Beaufort,  Due  de,  4  note,  18,  22,  24 
Beauvais,  Madame  de,  19,  66,  216,  217 
Beauvau,  Marquis  de  (cited),  206,  207 
Belbeuf,  Jacques  (lover  of  Madame  de 

Mazarin),  283,  284 
Benedetti,  Abbe  (cited),  236,  237 
Benedetti,  Elphideo,  12 
Blouin    {valet    de    chambre    to    Louis 

XIV),  129,  177 
Bologna,  Don  Maurizio,  328,  329 
Borgomainero,   Marchese  di,  331   and 

note,  336,  337 
Bouillon,  Due  de  (husband  of  Mari- 
anne Mancini),  253,  254,  255,  258, 
363.  364,  367-370,  405 
Bouillon,  Duchesse  de  (Marianne 
Mancini),  brought  to  France,  52 ; 
Mazarin's  practical  joke  at  her  ex- 
pense, 53 ;  sent  with  her  sisters, 
Marie  and  Hortense,  to  La  Rochelle, 
118  ;  accompanies  them  to  meet  the 
Court  at  Saint-Jean-d'Angely,  142- 
145  ;  her  letters  to  the  Cardinal, 
140  note,  148,  174,  189;  Mazarin's 
bequest  to  her,  232  ;  married  to  the 
Due  de  Bouillon,  253,  254 ;  her 
patronage  of  La  Fontaine,  255-258  ; 
her  intrigues  against  Racine's 
"  Phedre,"  259,  260  ;  sent  to  a  con- 
vent, 364  ;  compromised  in  the 
Poison  Trials,  367,  368 ;    her  trial 


415 


4i6 


INDEX 


before  the  Chambre  Ardente,  369, 
370 ;  exiled  to  Nerac,  370 ;  visits 
the  Duchesse  de  Mazarin  in  England, 
399,  400  ;  returns  to  France,  401  ; 
visits  her  brother  in  Rome,  404,  405  ; 
her  quarrel  with  the  Duchess  of 
Hanover,  405 ;  her  death,  405 ; 
Saint-Simon's  eulogy  of  her,  405, 
406 ;  her  children,  406,  407  ;  also 
mentioned,  260,  267,  271,  302,  315 
Brienne,  Madame  de,  8,  9 
Brinvilliers,  Marquise  de,  365 


Candale,  Due  de,  16,  17  and  note,  40 
Capitor  (jester  of  Don  Juan  of  Austria), 

103 
Carignan,  Princesse  de,  29,  60,  61,  62 
Carignan,  Prince  Thomas  de,  32,  60 
Chantelauze,  M.  (cited),  lio,  201,  329, 

346  note 
Charles  II  of  England,  225-227,  329, 

345.  346,  394,  395  and  note,  401 
Charles  IV,   Duke  of  Lorraine,    178, 

205-209,  216,  272 
Charles  Emmanuel  II,  Duke  of  Savoy, 

84  and  note,  88  and  note,  91,  92  and 

note,  93,   225,  322,   323,   324-336, 

340,  341 
Charles  of  Lorraine,  Prince,  178,  183, 

190,    191,  200-202,   205,   2q6,  209, 

210,  212,  216,  233,  234 
Cheruel,  M.  (cited),  11,  12,  no 
Chigi,  Cardinal,  286 
Chigi,  Don  Augustin  (lover  of  Madame 

de  Mazarin),  284 
Choisy,  Abbe  de,  200;  (cited),  158  note, 

376  note 
Christina,  Queen  of  Sweden,  63,  71 
Christine  of  France,  Duchess  of  Savoy, 

83,  84,  88-95 
Clement  X,  Pope,  303,  307,  309,  310, 

326 
Colbert,  77,   121,   125,   129,   157,   162, 

177  note,  205,  21S,  224,  231,  26S, 

318,  319,  347,   348,  355,  359,  360, 

373.  381,  382 
Colbert  de  Terron   (Governor   of  La 

Rochelle),  121,  165,  177 
Colbert,  Madame,  187 
Colonna,  Carlo,  277,  409,  410,  413 
Colonna,  Lorenzo  Onofrio,  Constable 

(husband   of   Marie    Mancini),    178, 

182,    183,  216,   223,   234,  235,  236, 

237-242,    274-280,    282,    284,   296- 

297,  298,   301,  303,   307,  308,  309, 

310,    321,  322,  323,   326,  328,   331, 

332,  33S>  336,  337,  338,  341,  342, 


343,  348-350.  352,  353,  354,  357, 
353,  359.  40S,  409 
Colonna,  Constabless  (Marie  Mancini), 
her  childhood,  35-37 ;  brought  to 
France,  37,  38  ;  sent  to  the  Couvent 
de  la  Visitation,  44  ;  her  remark- 
able intelligence,  45 ;  her  letters  to 
Mazarin,  46-48 ;  her  hand  refused 
by  the  Marquis  de  la  Meilleraye,  49, 
50 ;  harshly  treated  by  her  mother, 
53,  54 ;  becomes  one  of  the  most 
cultured  women  of  her  time,  55,  56  ; 
beginning  of  her  friendship  with 
Louis  XIV,  56 ;  her  personal  appear- 
ance, 69 ;  her  increasing  intimacy 
with  the  King,  69,  70;  her  bene- 
ficial influence  over  his  mind,  70-71  ; 
her  grief  during  his  illness  at  Calais, 
78  ;  Louis  XIV's  attentions  to  her  at 
Fontainebleau,  79-81  ;  accompanies 
the  Court  to  Lyons,  85-88 ;  dis- 
suades the  King  from  marrying 
Princess  Margherita  of  Savoy,  91 
and  note  ;  resolved  to  become  Queen 
of  France,  96,  98  ;  constantly  in  the 
King's  company,  96,  97 ;  growing 
passion  of  Louis  XIV  for  her,  100- 
104 ;  secures  the  dismissal  of  Don 
Juan  of  Austria's  jester,  104 ;  her 
influence  over  the  King  alarms 
Mazarin  and  Anne  of  Austria,  107- 
109 ;  Louis  XIV  determined  to 
marry  her,  109 ;  ordered  to  leave 
the  Court,  112;  her  interview  with 
the  King,  114;  presented  by  him 
with  the  pearls  of  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria,  115,  116;  her  departure  for 
La  Rochelle,  117,  118;  falls  ill  at 
Notre- Dame -de-Clery,  119,  120; 
receives  "very  long  and  very  tender 
letters"  from  the  King,  120,  121; 
arrives  at  La  Rochelle,  124  ;  her  in- 
terview with  Louis  XIV  at  Saint- 
Jean-d'Angely,  142-145 ;  pretends 
to  submit  to  the  Cardinal's  wishes, 
146,  147  ;  breaks  off'  her  corre- 
spondence with  Louis  XIV,  162- 
i66  ;  declines  to  reply  to  the  King's 
letters,  168-171  ;  writes  to  Mazarin, 
171,  172;  goes  to  Brouage,  172, 
173  ;  in  despair  at  the  resumption  of 
the  King's  relations  with  the  Com- 
tesse  de  Soissons,  180-182  ;  refuses 
the  hand  of  the  Constable  Colonna, 
182,  183  ;  returns  to  Paris,  184-1S7  ; 
receives  a  letter  from  the  King,  187, 
188  ;  attentions  paid  to  her  by  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine,  190,  191  ; 
anxious  to  marry  the  prince,  200- 


INDEX 


417 


203  ;  Charles  IV,  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
proposes  for  her  hand,  205-209  ; 
her  icy  reception  by  Louis  XIV  at 
Fontainebleau,  211-215  ;  pressed  by 
Mazarin  to  marry  the  Constable 
Colonna,  216  ;  witnesses  the  entry 
of  Maria  Theresa  into  Paris,  217- 
222  ;  promises  to  marry  the  Con- 
stable Colonna,  223  ;  her  remark  on 
learning  of  Mazarin's  death,  230 ;  her 
painful  interview  with  Louis  XIV, 
233,  234 ;  refuses  to  break  with  the 
Constable  Colonna,  234  ;  her  mar- 
riage, by  procuration,  with  the  Con- 
stable, 235  ;  her  journey  to  Italy, 
235-237 ;  her  meeting  with  her 
husband,  238  ;  her  dangerous  illness 
at  Loretto,  240,  241  ;  arrives  in 
Rome,  241,  242;  her  early  married 
life,  274-277 ;  separation  di  letto 
between  her  and  her  husband,  277- 
279 ;  goes  to  Milan  to  meet  her 
sister  Hortense,  280 ;  assists  Hor- 
tense  to  escape  from  the  Convent  of 
Campo-Marzo,  282 ;  estrangement 
between  her  and  the  Constable,  2S6, 
287  ;  believes  that  her  husband  in- 
tends to  poison  her,  288-290 ; 
promised  an  asylum  in  France  by 
Louis  XIV,  290,  291  ;  her  flight  to 
France,  293-301  ;  sends  a  message 
to  Louis  XIV,  304 ;  forbidden  by 
the  Queen  to  come  to  Paris,  305  ; 
her  interview  with  her  brother  at 
Grenoble,  306  ;  her  journey  to  Fon- 
tainebleau, 312,  313 ;  enters  the 
Abbey  of  Lys,  314,  315  ;  her  im- 
prudent letter  to  Colbert,  318;  sent 
to  the  Abbey  of  Avenay,  324  ;  goes 
to  Turin,  324  ;  her  life  there,  324- 
333 ;  her  relations  with  Charles 
Emmanuel  II  considered,  334 ; 
quarrels  with  the  Duke,  334,  335  ; 
refused  an  asylum  in  France,  335  ; 
sets  out  for  Flanders,  336-338  ;  im- 
prisoned at  Antwerp,  339,  340  ;  goes 
to  Madrid,  341,  342  ;  enters  a  con- 
vent, 343  ;  escapes,  but  is  brought 
back,  344  ;  writes  to  Charles  II  of 
England,  345  ;  publication  of  her 
apocryphal  and  her  genuine  memoirs, 
346  ;  second  attempt  at  escape,  347, 
348  ;  visited  by  her  husband,  348, 
349 ;  takes  refuge  at  the  French 
Embassy,  353,  354 ;  goes  to  reside 
in  her  husband's  palace,  355  ;  im- 
prisoned in  the  Alcazar  of  Segovia, 
356,  357  ;  promises  to  become  a  nun 
and  enters  the  Convent  of  the  Con- 

2  £ 


ception,  357,  358 ;  refuses  to  carry 
out  her  promise,  359,  360 ;  set  at 
liberty,  360,  361  ;  coldness  between 
her  and  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons, 
381  ;  her  grief  on  learning  of  her 
husband's  death,  409  ;  visits  Rome, 
410;  returns  to  Madrid,  411;  ac- 
companies Maria  Anne  of  Neuburg 
to  Toledo,  411  ;  visits  France,  412; 
declines  Louis  XIV's  invitation  to 
Court,  413 ;  her  last  years  and  death, 

413,  414 
Colonna,  Ferdinando,  341,  342,  343, 

345>  348,  356 
Colonna,  Filippo,  276,  277,  354,  355, 

413,  414 
Colonna,    Marco   Antonio,    277,   343, 

413 

Conde,  Prince  de,  19,  20,  23,  30,  32, 

145,  377  note 
Conti,  Prince  de,  20,  38-42,  197 
Conti,  Princesse  de  (Anne  Marie  Mar- 

tinozzi),  3-6,  3S-42,  143,  197 
Cosnac,  Daniel  de  (cited),  17,  58,  59 
Couberville,  "Chevalier"  de  (lover  of 

Madame  de  Mazarin),  272,  280-283 
Coulanges,  Marquise  de,  391 
Courtenay,  Prince  de,  227 
Crequi,  Due  de,  197,314,  315  and  note, 

317 
Crequi,  Duchesse  de,  187 


D 

Deshoulieres,  Madame,  254,  258 
Du  Fouilloux,  M.,  141,  142,  145 
Du    Fouilloux,    Mile.       See    AUuye, 

Madame 
Du  Saussois  (physician),  77 


E 

Fpernon,  Due  d',  87 

Epernon,  Duchesse  d',  67 

Estrees,  Cardinal  d'  (French  Ambassa- 
dor in  Rome),  29S,  299  and  note, 
317,  322 

Estrees,  Due  d',  2S9 

Evelyn,  John  (cited),  395  and  note 


Fontanges,  Mile,  (mistress  of  Louis 
XIV),  235  note,  243,  377  note 

Fouquet,  Nicolas,  224 

Francesco  I,  Duke  of  Modena,  51 

Francesco  II,  Duke  of  Modena,  51, 
314  note 


4i8 


INDEX 


Gazette  de  France  (cited),  6i,  221 
Gazette  de  Leyden  (cited),  287  note 
Gomont,  M.  de,  325,  327 
Gramont,  Chevalier  de,  219  note,  248, 

249 
Grignan,  Comte  de,  300,  301 
Grignan,  Comtesse  de,  258  and  note, 

302 
Grillo,  Marchese  del  (lover  of  Madame 

de  Mazarin),  284 
Gusman,  Don  Domenico,  284 

H 

Haro,  Don  Luis  de  (Prime  Minister  of 
Spain),  108,  136,  198 

Henrietta  Anne  of  England.  See  Or- 
leans, Henrietta  Anne,  Duchesse  d' 

Henrietta  Maria,  Queen  of  England, 
115,  186,  217,  293 

Hocquincourt,  Marechal,  21,  29,  30 

Hopital,  Marechal  de  1',  186 

Hopital,  Marechale  de  1',  74 

Huxelles,  Marquise  d'  (cited),  413 


Innocent  X,  Pope,  13,  14 
Innocent  XI,  Pope,  358,  360 


Jarze,  Marquis  de,  18-20 
Juan  of  Austria,  Don,  103,   104,  347, 
348,  350 

K 

Keroualles,  Louise  de,  394,  395  note  , 


La  Fayette,  Madame  de  la  (cited),  109 

214,  389 
Lafesnestre,  M.  Georges  (cited),  256 
La  Fontaine,  148,  255-258,  400 
La  Gilbertiere,  312,  313,  314,  315,  317, 

319  and  note 
La  Grayide  Mademoiselle.      See  Mont- 

pensier.  Mile,  de 
Lamoignon,  Mere  Elisabeth  de,  44 
La  Motte  d'Argencourt,  Mile,  de,  65, 

66 
La  Motte-Houdancourt,  Mile,  de,  75, 

loi  note,  102 
La  Rochefoucauld,  Due  de,  55 
La  Valliere,  Louise  de,  42,  235  note, 

242,  245,  371  ^ 
Le  Camus,  Abbe,  105 
Le  Fare,  Marquis  de  (cited),  244,  250 
Lesage  (magician),  367,  368,  370 


Lionne,  Hugues  de,  106,  107,  237  note 
Livet,  M.  Charles  (cited),  iio 
Loiseleur,  M.  Jules  (cited),  11-14 
Loret,  Jean,  148  ;  (cited),  185 
Lorraine,  Chevalier  de,  284,  287  note, 

290-292,  307 
Los  Balbases,  Marques  de,  238,  280, 

353.  356,  359,  360,  382 
Los  Balbases,  Marquesa  de,  409 
Louis  XIV,  goes  to  meet  Mazarin  on 
his  return  from  his  second  exile,  33  ; 
beginning  of  the  friendship  between 
him  and  Marie  Mancini,  56;  "dan- 
cing with  grace  and  majesty,"  57  ; 
his  intimacy  with  Olympe  Mancini, 
62-64;  his  Q3,r\y  galanteries,  65,  66; 
growing  attachment  between  him  and 
Marie  Mancini,  68-70;  her  beneficial 
influence  over  him,  71,  72  ;  has  a 
passing  fancy  for  Mile,  de  la  Motte- 
Houdancourt,  75,  76  ;  falls  danger- 
ously ill  at  Calais,  76-78  ;  his  atten- 
tions to  Marie  Mancini  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  79-81 ;  Mazarin's  matrimonial 
projects  for  him,  82-84  ;  his  journey 
to  Lyons  to  meet  the  Princess  Mar- 
gherita  of  Savoy,  82-99 !  his  passion 
for  Marie  Mancini  increasing,  lOl, 
102 ;  dismisses  Don  Juan's  jester  from 
Court,  104 ;  scandalizes  the  Spanish 
envoy,  107 ;  openly  braves  the  Queen, 
107,  108  ;  demands  Mazarin's  per- 
mission to  marry  Marie  Mancini, 
109  ;  flies  into  a  violent  passion  with 
Anne  of  Austria,  113;  refused  by 
the  Cardinal  his  niece's  hand,  113; 
attempts  to  console  Marie  Mancini, 
114;  touching  interview  with  his 
mother,  116,  117;  Mazarin's  letters 
to  him  relative  to  his  passion  for 
Marie,  122,  126-129,  130-138,  143- 
145,  150-157  ;  declines  to  accept 
Marie's  refusal  to  write  to  him,  167, 
168  ;  has  no  heart  for  the  gaieties  of 
the  Court,  175;  resumes  his  relations 
with  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  179  ; 
his  marriage  with  the  Infanta  Maria 
Theresa,  192-200 ;  his  entry  with 
the  Queen  into  Paris,  217-221  ;  his 
letter  to  Madame  de  Venel,  239 ; 
and  to  the  Constable  Colonna,  241, 
242 ;  takes  no  pleasure  in  the  society 
of  the  Queen,  243,  244  ;  abandons 
the  Comtesse  de  Soissons  for  Louise 
de  la  Valliere,  244,  245  ;  exiles  the 
Comtesse  de  Soissons,  252  ;  under 
financial  obligations  to  the  Due  de 
Mazarin,  263  and  note  ;  finds  himself 
in  an  embarrassing  position  in  regard 


INDEX 


419 


to  the  Constabless  Colonna,  310; 
annoyed  at  her  imprudent  letter  to 
Colbert,  318  ;  his  letter  to  her,  319, 
320 ;  sends  her  a  thousand  pistoles, 
325  ;  orders  the  Prince  de  Carignan 
to  send  her  away  from  his  house,  332 ; 
ignores  her  request  to  be  allowed  to 
return  to  France,  335  ;  banishes  the 
Duchesse  de  Bouillon,  370;  connives 
at  the  escape  of  Madame  de  Soissons 
from  justice,  374,  375  ;  his  corre- 
spondence with  the  ComtedeRebenac, 
French  Ambassador  in  Madrid,  383- 
388  ;  gives  the  Constabless  Colonna 
permission  to  return  to  France,  409  ; 
invites  her  to  Court,  412,  413.  See 
also  Anne  of  Austria ;  Colonna, 
Constabless ;  Mazarin,  Cardinal 
Louvois,  267,  373,  375 

M 

Madame.  See  Orleans,  Henrietta  Anne, 

Duchess  d' 
Maintenon,  Madame  de,  216,  217,  336, 

3S0;  (cited),  217-220 
Mancini,  Alphonse,  52,  73 
Mancini,     Hortense.        See   Mazarin, 

Duchesse  de 
Mancini,  Laure.  6'f(rI\Iercceur,Duchesse 

de 
Mancini,  Lorenzo,  2,  55,  56 
Mancini,     Marianne.      See    Bouillon, 

Duchesse  de 
Mancini,  Marie,     See  Colonna,  Con- 
stabless 
Mancini,  Olympe.     See  Soissons,  Com- 

tesse  de 
Mancini,  Paul,  3,  6,  28,  30,  31 
Mancini,  Philippe.    ^^^Nevers,  Ducoe 
Mancini,  Signora,  2,  3,  35-38,  53,  54, 

56,  57 
Mansfeld,  Graf  von  (Austrian  Ambas- 
sador in  Madrid),  382,  383,  3S5,  3S9 
Maria  Anne   of   Neuburg,    Queen   of 

Spain,  411,  412 
Marie  Beatrice  of  Modena,  Queen  of 

England,  51,  394,  401 
Maria  Theresa  of  Austria,  Queen  of 

France 
Marie  de'  Medici,  Queen  of  France,  19 
Marie    Louise    d'Orleans,     Queen    of 

Spain,  381,  382,  383,  385,  3S6,  387, 

388,  389,  390,  391 
Margherita  of  Savoy,  Princess,  84,  85, 

86,  88-95 
Marsan,  Comte  de,  284,  290 
Martinozzi,     Laure.       See     Modena, 

Duchess  of  Modena 


Martinozzi,   Anne   Marie.     See  Conti, 

Princess  de 
Martinozzi,  Signora,  2,  3,  51,  282 
Mazarin,  Cardinal,  his  misplaced  kind- 
ness to  his  brother  Michele,  1,2; 
summons  the  first  detachment  of  his 
nieces  and  nephews  to  France,  3,  4; 
his  coolness  towards  them,  4,  5  '■>  his 
relations  with  Anne  of  Austria  con- 
sidered, 6-14 ;  sends  his  nieces  to 
Val-de-Grace,  15;  his  plans  for  their 
establishment  in  life,  16,  17  ;  affiances 
Laure  Mancini  to  the  Due  de  Mer- 
coeur,  17,  18;  goes  into  exile,  20; 
burned  in  effigy,  20  note  ;  his  sojourn 
at  Briihl,  22-24 ;  his  correspondence 
with  Anne  of  Austria,  25,  26  ;  returns 
to  France,  26-28  ;  his  grief  at  the 
death  of  his  nephew  Paul  Mancini, 
30,  31  ;  shamefully  libelled,  31,  32; 
goes  into  exile  for  the  second  time, 
32  ;  returns  in  triumph  to  Paris,  33, 
34 ;  summons  a  second  detachment  of 
his  relations  to  France,  35,  36  ;  mar- 
ries Anne  Marie  Martinozzi  to  the 
Prince  de  Conti,  38-41  ;  marries 
Laure  Martinozzi  to  Francesco  d' 
Este  of  Modena,  50,  51  ;  summons 
Alphonse  and  Marianne  Mancini  to 
P'rance,  52  ;  present  at  the  Duchesse 
de  Merccear's  death,  59 ;  marries 
Olympe  Mancini  to  the  Comte  de 
Soissons,  60,  61  ;  his  dislike  of 
Philippe  Mancini,  73,  74  ;  does  not 
interfere  with  the  intimacy  between 
the  King  and  Marie  Mancini,  80;  his 
matrimonial  projects  for  Louis  XIV, 
82-85  ;  regards  Marie  Mancini  as  a 
useful  factor  in  his  plans,  85,  86 ; 
announces  to  Anne  of  Austria  the 
arrival  of  the  Spanish  envoy,  Pi- 
mentel,  90  ;  regards  Pimentel's  mis- 
sion with  suspicion,  91  ;  refuses 
Hortense  Mancini's  hand  to  the  Duke 
of  Savoy,  92  ;  his  interview  with  the 
Duchess  of  Savoy,  93  ;  fears  for  the 
virtue  of  Marie  Mancini,  97,  98  ; 
alarmed  at  her  growing  influence  over 
the  King,  102,  107  ;  his  conduct  in 
the  matter  considered,  109-111  ;  re- 
solves to  send  Marie  to  La  Rochelle, 
112;  refuses  Louis  XIV's  demand  for 
her  hand,  1 14;  sets  out  for  the  Py- 
renees, 118;  his  letters  to  Louis  XIV 
and  Anne  of  Austria  relative  to  Marie 
Mancini,  122, 126,  127,  128, 129-141, 
150-157,  158-161  ;  learns  that  Marie 
has  resolved  to  renounce  the  King, 
162-170;  sends  his  agent  Bartet  to 


420 


INDEX 


Bordeaux,  175;  discovers  the  treachery 
of  the  Governor  of  La  Rochelle,  176, 
177  ;  determines  to  find  a  husband 
for  Marie,  177, 17S;  sends  the  Bishop 
of  Frejus  to  Brouage,  182  ;  sends  his 
nieces  back  to  Paris,  184-1S7;  greatly 
alarmed  at  Louis  XIV's  visit  to 
Brouage  and  La  Rochelle,  203-205  ; 
intrigues  to  awaken  the  jealousy  of 
the  King,  209-214;  urges  Marie  to 
wed  the  Constable  Colonna,  216; 
magnificence  of  his  household,  218, 
219  ;  his  last  illness,  223,  224  ;  his 
death,  229,  230  ;  his  fortune,  230, 
231  ;  his  will,  231,  232.  See  also 
Anne  of  Austria;  Bouillon,  Duchesse 
de  ;  Colonna,  Constabless  ;  Louis 
XIV  ;  Mazarin,  Duchesse  de  ;  Sois- 
sons,  Comtesse  de 

Mazarin,  Due  de,  49,  50,  64,  227,  228, 
229,  261-71,  272,  273,  282, 284, 285, 
305»  330.  395,  401,  403 

Mazarin,  Duchesse  de  (Hortense  Man- 
cini),  brought  to  France,  37  ;  sent  to 
the  Convent  de  la  Visitation,  44  ;  her 
letters  to  Mazarin,  45-48 ;  passion 
which  she  arouses  in  the  Marquis 
de  la  Meilleraye,  49,  50 ;  accom- 
panies the  Court  to  Lyons,  85 ; 
Charles  Emmanuel  II  of  Savoy, 
a  suitor  for  her  hand,  92  ;  "  taking 
the  same  road  as  Marie,"  140;  ac- 
companies her  sister  to  Saint-Jean- 
d'Angely,  142-145 ;  goes  to  Brouage, 
170  ;  returns  to  Paris,  184,  185  ;  her 
suitors,  225-228  ;  her  marriage,  228, 
229  ;  inherits  the  bulk  of  the  Car- 
dinal's fortune,  232  ;  her  unhappy 
married  life,  261-271  ;  flies  to  Italy, 
271-273  ;  her  liaison  with  the  "  Che- 
valier "  de  Couberville,  280-282 ; 
escape  from  the  Convent  of  Campo- 
Marzo,  282  ;  her  lovers,  283,  284  ; 
returns  to  France,  284  ;  attempt  of 
her  husband  to  have  her  arrested, 
284,  285 ;  returns  to  Rome,  285  ; 
shares  her  sister  Marie's  flight  to 
France,  292-301  ;  goes  to  Savoy, 
305  ;  rejoins  her  sister  at  Grenoble, 
305  ;  goes  to  reside  at  Chambery, 
311  ;  her  life  there,  329,  330;  her 
diplomatic  conduct  in  regard  to 
Marie,  330  ;  leaves  Savoy  and  takes 
up  her  residence  in  England,  393-394; 
her  relations  with  Charles  II,  394, 
395  and  note  ;  Saint  -  Evremond's 
description  of  her  charms,  396  note  ; 
her  life  in  England,  396-399  ;  visited 
by  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon,  399, 


400  ;  her  last  years  and  death,  400- 
403  ;  fate  of  her  remains,  403  ;  her 
children,  403,  404 

Medina  Coeli,  Duque  de,  354,  355,  356 

Medina  de  Rio  Seco,  Duque  de,  341, 
342,  344 

Mercoeur,  Due  de,  18,  23  and  note, 
24,  59 

Mercoeur  (Laure  Mancini),  Duchesse 
de,  brought  to  France,  3  ;  her  per- 
sonal appearance,  3  ;  her  reception 
at  Court,  4-6  ;  sent  to  Val-de-Grace, 
15  ;  Mazarin's  plans  for  her  establish- 
ment in  life,  16,  17  ;  betrothed  to  the 
Due  de  Mercoeur,  18  ;  her  marriage 
opposed  by  Conde,  18  ;  accompanies 
Mazarin  to  Brlihl,  21,  22  ;  married 
to  the  Due  de  Mercoeur,  23  and  note ; 
returns  to  Paris,  23,  24;  takes  charge 
of  her  sister  Hortense,  54 ;  her  death, 
57,  59  ;  her  children,  59 

Modena,  Duchess  of  (Laure  Martinozzi), 
35-38,  50-52 

Monaco,  Prince  de,  395 

Morena  (femtne  de  chambre  to  Marie 
Mancini),  289,  293,  294,  312,  320, 
327,  337 

Monsieur.  See  Orleans,  Philippe,  Due  d' 

Monterey,  Comte  de  (Governor  of 
Flanders),  338,  339,  340 

Montespan,  Marquise  de,  235  note, 
243.  285,  306,  310,  315,  321,  363, 
380 

Montpensier,  Mile,  de,  30,  67,  85,  87, 
88,  97,  98,  103,  104 ;  (cited),  67,  68, 
79,  87,  88-90,  91,  94,  99,  104,  197, 
200,  389 

Motteville,  Marquise  de,  64,  96  note, 
no;  (cited),  i,  3,  57,  63,  66,  70,  92 
note,  109,  116,  196,  229 

N 

Navailles,  Due  de,  219,  249,  250 
Navailles,  Duchesse  de,  249,  250 
Nevers,  Due  de,  37,  38,  43,  104,  105, 
106,  204,  230,  231,  271,  272,  '?8r, 
284,  306,  307,  321,  322,  404,  405, 
409,  410  and  note 
Nevers,  Duchesse  de,  284,  321,  410 
Noailles,  Due  de,  52 
Noailles,  Duchesse  de,  52 

O 

Ondedei,  Bishop  of  Frejus,  162,  182, 
183,  227,  228  and  note,  254 

Orleans,  Gaston,  Due  d',  20,  26,  27 
and  note,  206 


INDEX 


421 


Orleans,  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  Duchesse 

d'  (cited),  10  note,  377  note,  389 
Orleans,  Henrietta  Anne,  Duchesse  d', 

217,  226,  245,  250-252,  259,  386 
Orleans,  Philippe,  Due  d',  6,  78,  97, 

103,   104,   no,  199,  219,  226,  245, 

290,  350 
Oropesa,  Conde  de  (Prime  Minister  of 

Spain),  382,  388 
Ossuna,   Duque   d'  (Governor   of  the 

Milanese),  338 


Palatine,  Princess  (Anne  de  Gonzague), 

86 
Palatine,  Princess.    See  Orleans,  Char- 
lotte Elizabeth,  Duchesse  d' 
Paleotto,  Marchesa,  279,  280,  328,  413 
Parma,  Duke  of,  95 
Pedro  II,  King  of  Portugal,  225 
Pelletier  {valet  de  chambre  to  Madame 

de  Mazarin),  292-297,  304,  311 
Percy,  Lucien,  413;   (cited),  85,   no, 

159,   172,  213,  221,  27s,  276,  333, 

346  note 
Perkins,  Mr.  J.  B.  (cited),  9,  no,  in 
Perrault,  264 
Philip  IV,  King  of  Spain,  85,  95,  192, 

197-199 
Philip  V,  King  of  Spain,  41 1 
Pimentel  (Spanish  envoy  to  France), 

90  and  note,  91  note,  93,  103,  106, 

133 
Pomponne,  Marquis  de,  299  note,  300 
Pradon  (poet),  148,  259,  260 


R 

Racine,  258-260 

Rebenac,  Comte  de  (French  Ambassa- 
dor in  Madrid),  381,  382,  3S3,  384 
and  note 
Renee,  M.  Amedee  (cited),  no,  257, 

258. 
Retz,  Cardinal  de  (cited),  24 
Richelieu,  Cardinal  de,  4  note,  6,  7 
Rohan,  Chevalier  de  (lover  of  Mada...e 
de  Mazarin),  262  note,  271  note,  272, 
273 


Saint-Evremond,  55,  395,  396,  398, 
403 ;  (cited),  265,  266  and  note, 
396  and  note,  399,  402 

Saint-Real,  397,  400 

Saint-Simon,  Due  de  (cited),  230,  377 
and  note,  389,  390,  414 


San  Tommasso,  Marchese  di  (Prime 
Minister  of  Savoy),  331,  335 

Sarrazin  (poet),  39  and  note,  40,  41 
and  note 

Savoie,  Eugene  de,  378,  379,  381,  392, 

,393 

Savoie,  Philippe  de,  378 
Scudery,  Mile,  (cited),  315  note 
Sevigne,    Madame    de,    300 ;    (cited), 

303.  312,  374,  376,  398  note 
Soissons,  Chevalier  de,  378,  397,  398 
Soissons,  Comte  de,  60-62,  24.7,  362 
Soissons  (Olympe  Mancini),  Comtesse 
de,  brought  to  France,  3 ;  her  per- 
sonal appearance,  3  ;  her  reception 
at  Court,  4-6;  sent  to  Val-de-Grace, 
15  ;  accompanies  Mazarin  to  Brtihl, 
21,  22  ;  returns  to  Paris,  23,  24 ; 
marries  the  Comte  de  Soissons,  60- 
62;  her  intimacy  with  Louis  XIV, 
62-64  >  her  strange  behaviour  to  la 
Grande  Mademoiselle,  67,  68  ;  flaunts 
her  intimacy  with  the  King,  74,  75  ; 
her  indifference  during  Louis  XIV's 
illness  at  Calais,  78,  79 ;  the  King 
ceases  to  visit  her,  81  ;  accompanies 
the  Court  to  Lyons,  85  ;  in  disgrace 
with  Louis  XIV,  87  ;  endeavours  to 
do  her  sister  Marie  an  ill  turn,  143  ; 
misrepresents  the  latter's  conduct  to 
Mazarin,  147  ;  advised  by  the  Car- 
dinal to  behave  "  with  more  prudence 
and  moderation,"  148  ;  endeavours 
to  recover  her  influence  over  Louis 
XIV,  175  ;  resumes  her  former  in- 
timacy with  him,  179,  181  ;  intrigues 
with  Mazarin  against  Marie  and  the 
King,  210;  her  spiteful  remark  to 
Marie,  213 ;  Mazarin's  bequest  to 
her,  231,  232  ;  "visited  daily  by  the 
King,"  234 ;  discarded  by  him  for 
Louise  de  la  Valliere,  247-251  ; 
mistress  of  the  Marquis  de  Vardes, 
245-247  ;  intrigues  against  La  Val- 
liere, 247-250 ;  exiled  to  Champagne, 
250-252  ;  recalled  to  Court,  252  ; 
visits  her  sister  Marie  at  the  Abbey 
of  Lys,  315,  316  ;  loses  her  husband, 

362  ;  resigns  her  post  of  Superinten- 
dent of  the  Queen's  Household,  362, 

363  and  note  ;  compromised  in  the 
Poison  Trials,  371-373;  escapes  to 
Flanders,  374,  375  ;  her  adventures 
there,  376  and  note,  377 ;  settles  in 
Brussels,  377  ;  her  sons,  377-379  ; 
goes  to  Madrid,  380  ;  suspected  by 
Carlos  II  of  sorcery,  381,  382  ;  her 
life  in  Madrid,  383,  3S4  ;  charged  by 
Saint-Simon  with   having  poisoned 


422 


INDEX 


the  Queen  of  Spain,  389,  390  ;  her 
last  years  and  death,  391,  392;  her 
character,  392 


Thianges,    Diane    de.      See    Nevers, 

Duchesse  de 
Turenne,  Marechal  de,  29,  30,  76,  137, 

227,  253,  254 

V 

Vallot  (first  physician  to  Louis  XIV), 

77,  148,  150 
Valois,  Mile.,  199 
Vardes,    Marquis   de,    219   and   note, 

245-252 
Villars,  Due  de,  353,  354 
Villars,  Duchesse  de,  353,  354;  (cited) 

358,  370 
Villeroi,  Marechal  de,  27,  391 
Vend&me,  Louis  Joseph,  Due  de,  59, 

364,  368,  369 


Vendome,  Philippe,  Grand  Prieur  de, 
59.  364 

Venel,  Madame  de  (gouvejnante  of 
Marie,  Hortense,  and  Marianne 
Mancini),  98,  102,  103,  112,  135, 
121,  122  note,  125,  138,  141,  142 
and  note,  146,  147,  148,  152,  163, 
168,  170,  171,  173,  174,  177,  188, 
190,  191,  201,  202,  209,  221,  222, 
234,  235,  239,  240  and  note. 

Victor  Amadeus  I,  Duke  of  Savoy,  83 

Vigoureux,  la  (poisoner),  365,  368, 
369,  370,  371  and  note,  372 

Voisin,  la  (poisoner),  365,  366,  367 
and  note,  369 

Voltaire  (cited),  205 

Vossius,  Dr.,  397 

W 

Waller  (poet),  397  ;  (cited)  394 
William  III,  King  of  England,  401 


PLYMOUTH  :   WILLIAM   BRENDON   AND   SON,    LTD, 
PRINTERS 


'30 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


s 


VI 


3   1205  00150  4107 


<Xf^ 


SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACIUTY 


AA      000  161723    2 


